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BREAKING: Orange council has just voted on the Lords Place redevelopment
October 18, 2022
By David Fitzsimons
Controversial changes to beautify a key Orange CBD street - which would see the loss of 23 car parking spaces - will go ahead.
Orange City Council voted 9-3 on Tuesday night to back pedestrian-friendly changes to Lords Place between Summer and Kite streets as part of the Future City project.
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However the 45-minute debate also led to several checks and balances being introduced.
They include the extent of use of dining booths on the street be reported every six months, signs installed to clearly state there are no parking limits after 6pm, and an investigation into providing two hour parking limits in neighbouring areas, including McNamara Street and its car park.
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The entire project will be reviewed after 18 months to assess its success or failure.
Three councillors opposed to the plan said they feared it could do irreversible damage to the Lords Place businesses reliant on parking spaces.
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Councillor Kevin Duffy said Lords Place was primarily a “business centre” and the businesses should be protected.
“This is the biggest con job I have ever seen,” he said.
Duffy said council should wait until the Ophir car park was expanded before cutting spaces.
Councillor Jeff Whitton said the plan would “definitely impact those businesses” and it was “very bad, I feel”.
“If we get it wrong and in 18 months time we admit we got it wrong what happens to those businesses who lost revenue and who are probably now gone?
“How does that help them. It’s all around the fact we are going to take away 23 car spots.”
Councillor Frances Kinghorne also opposed the plan, with concerns about parking.
Mayor Jason Hamling led a wave of support for the plans, arguing council should “give it a go”. He said outdoor dining was popular in Canberra, which had a similar climate to Orange.
Councillor Jack Evans said a regular assessment of the booths’ use would enable council to make changes where needed.
Councillor Mel McDonell said the improvements would encourage people to come to the area.
“We need to try this, we’ve got the grant, we’ve put in the contingencies, I just think we need to give it a crack,” she said.
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Councillor Tammy Greenhalgh said council should support the trial. “We need to try different things,” she said.
She said there were no public forum speakers opposing the plan at the council meeting, nor had any businesses contacted her with concerns.
Councillor Glenn Floyd said he visited businesses in the area this week and found 75 percent support for it. He said Orange needed to “improvise and adapt”.
Earlier, council supported plans for a public Wi-Fi scheme in the CBD that will use existing Telstra pink phone booths in Summer street.
UPDATED 19/10/22
According to workers on Lords Place, council staff visited businesses on Tuesday to let them know that if the vote was successful the work would begin straight after the council meeting.
By Wednesday morning the majority of car parking spaces on Lords Place had been blocked off with orange traffic cones.
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