Street parking near Dandenong Hospital will remain free of charge, but Greater Dandenong Council still plans to roll out meters in central Springvale despite expected opposition from traders.
At a 27 October meeting, councillor Bob Milkovic won support to remove the David Street medical precinct from the paid-parking plan.
Cr Milkovic said often street parking was filled by hospital staff, who avoid the more expensive hospital off-street car park.
However, he wasn’t comfortable with the perception of charging visitors and patients “at their hardest times” for street parking.
A council report recommended meters in Springvale Activity Centre, and parts of Cleeland and Stuart streets and Stuart Street East car park near Dandenong Market,
Meters will also go into the Princes Highway service lane between Foster and Webster streets when Webster Street level crossing removal works conclude.
A council report stated the meters would “improve parking experience”, including an increased turnover of vehicles in busy areas.
However the rationale may not convince Springvale traders.
In 2017, after an outcry from traders and residents, a trial of $1-an-hour parking meters in Springvale Activity Centre ended with the meters pulled out at a cost of $300,000.
Springvale Central Ward councillor Sean O’Reilly said meters were necessary to address the masses of cars circling Springvale in search of scarce on-street parking.
He said the congestion was a turn-off for potential customers and holding down trading growth.
“Since parking meters were taken out 10 years ago, the level of trade and customers in Springvale hasn’t changed while other shopping centres in the South East have grown in patronage.
“So people have to make a decision – do they want to unblock the bottlenecks and for trade to grow?
“Or to pander to customers who are not prepared to pay a small amount for convenient parking?”
Springvale Asian Business Association president Daniel Cheng said the 12-month trial was a failure, despite the council’s assertion at the time of a 7 per cent increase in visitors.
“It was a huge decrease. People would go instead to Clayton and Glen Waverley – so we lost a lot of business. Traders were screaming about it for the whole year.”
Cheng said the high parking congestion was caused by a shortage of spaces, not turnover.
New multi-deck car parks in Warwick Avenue or Queens Avenue would be a more effective solution, he argues.
However, Cr O’Reilly said there was not a shortage of overall parking, citing the unused capacity in the multi-storey car park at 8 Balmoral Avenue.
“People say we just need another multi-level car park in Springvale. But we will still have the congestion at on-street level.”
Mayor Jim Memeti said the estimated $1 million revenue would be invested into the council’s Springvale Revitalisation Plan.
“This is one way to deliver the plan sooner rather than later. It’s a win-win.”
The council report stated Springvale CBD’s “extremely high” parking detracts potential visitors.
Introducing paid parking would encourage turnover, unclog parking spaces, and increase visitors and customers, the report argues.
Often, the community favoured “large volumes of available free parking” but “without meaningful input” on how it creates a “positive parking experience”, the report stated.
The report recommended no increase in parking fees.
“These schemes improve parking through increasing turnover, improving parking availability and making it easier and more convenient for customers to visit,” it states.
“Paid parking schemes are rarely utilised as primarily a source of revenue.”
In early 2026, Greater Dandenong will engage with businesses and community on the “process and methodology” for the paid-parking rollout.
It comes on top of the introduction of new parking meters, including digital payment options, in Dandenong from late this year.
