By Danielle Kutchel
A Noble Park kindergarten is desperately seeking a solution to its parking woes, as parents compete with staff and residents for a dwindling number of spots.
Harrisfield Kindergarten on Bowmore Road, Noble Park, has no on-site car parking for attendees or staff.
The centre’s main address is a no standing Zone, meaning parents are legally unable to park outside the kinder’s front entrance.
It is also situated on a dangerous blind corner.
The kinder backs on to Ardgower Road and a small reserve that managers say could be turned into parking for staff at the very least.
Currently, most drivers park on Ardgower Road – where they compete with residents for the available spots.
Harrisfield Kindergarten co-educator Wendy said the majority of the centre’s 80 families drive to the kinder to drop off and pick up their children.
She said many parents double park during peak times, or drive through the reserve to drop their children at the gate.
Bin day restricts parking even further, as does the influx of residents in new units nearby with no on-site parking provided for tenants.
“We’ve had neighbours complain that parents have parked over their driveways or bins,” she added.
“And wet day pick-up can be dangerous because parents want to park right out the front, which is illegal on Bowmore.
“Bowmore is dangerous – last year a car didn’t make the bend and came through the front fence.”
Staff have resorted to parking at a nearby shopping strip, she said, because there is simply “nowhere else to park”.
The kindergarten has tabled a petition with Greater Dandenong Council in an effort to get a carpark built.
The petition, which attracted 267 signatures from parents and residents, was first tabled at the council meeting on Monday 24 February, and re-tabled at the meeting on Tuesday 10 March.
The petitioners want to see some of the reserve turned into a parking facility for staff, or a ten-minute drop-off zone provided for parents.
On Wednesday 11 March, Cr Peter Brown met with Greater Dandenong traffic and community officers on site to discuss how to rectify the issue.
The group floated ideas such as turning the reserve into staff-only parking or a drop-off only zone, or blocking out some of the on-street space as drop-off only parking.
Cr Brown said he hoped a balance could be achieved and said he didn’t have a problem with the reserve being turned into a carpark for staff.
“If we can meet the staff’s needs, good,” he said.
“There’s room for two or three carparks for staff there.”
He said the issue of a lack of parking was common to many educational precincts across Greater Dandenong, with the safety of children being the paramount concern.
“To me the critical issue is a safe drop off point for parents because the main street frontage of the kindergarten is a dangerous road because of the way it’s configured and the sheer amount of traffic, so we have to look at Ardgower Road as the main drop off point for parents.”
He said most of the problems could be overcome by having both staff parking and a drop-off zone working together.
“The expectation of the parent community here is that we do respond as quickly as possible,” he said.
The Journal sent detailed questions to Greater Dandenong Council.
Acting community services director Tilla Buden responded in a statement: “Council is working with the kinder to address their concerns and find an appropriate solution.”
