By Paul Pickering
BORONIA traders and Knox City Council arrived at a truce over the controversial $1 million Dorset Square Shopping Centre upgrade this week, effectively ending a protracted dispute over the loss of parking spaces at the popular shopping precinct.
Led by local retailer Murray Gibson, the trader group has fought defiantly against Knox’s initial plans to cut as many as 101 parking spaces at Dorset Square, claiming that the loss of convenience for customers would be a brutal blow for local businesses.
Throughout the design process, the council has maintained that parking spaces need to be widened to meet Australian standards, while footpaths and pedestrian crossings need to be improved to make the shopping centre more accessible for people of all ages and abilities.
Council engineers reassessed the site and were able to reduce the numbers of spaces to be lost to 71, but this figure was still unsatisfactory for the traders.
Last Wednesday, Knox mayor Jim Penna and Mr Gibson announced that the parties had agreed on plans for the loss of just 51 parking spaces.
While Mr Gibson maintained that he was far from happy with the plans, he said the result was a win for the trader group.
“We would’ve liked to save a lot more spaces, but we were pretty fortunate to get that out of them in the end,” he said.
“The whole way along it has been handled pretty poorly (by the council) – the consultation with the traders has been very little or non-existent.”
Cr Penna said the council had achieved its aims of reducing the loss of parking spaces, but he stood firm on Knox’s vision for Boronia.
“The council is determined to make Boronia a premier shopping destination and when these works are complete, Dorset Square will be a more attractive place to shop and socialise,” he said.
Cr Penna said the council intends to start the tender process later this year.
