OCEAN Grove traders say the City of Greater Geelong \u201ccompletely dropped the ball\u201d by allowing the installation of a telecommunications tower in their shopping centre car park during the \u201clast hurrah for the tourist season\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ty Simons, Ocean Grove Business Association president and owner of Driftwood, said what traders described as \u201cThe Great Easter Carpark Debacle\u201d saw close to 60 car parks lost last Thursday, and would have seen 22 car parks taken up for 21 days if action wasn\u2019t taken.<\/p>\n
He said Ocean Grove was the busiest and largest town on the Bellarine, and tourism and the ripple effect it had on the local economy was vital, and any disruption to that was unacceptable.<\/p>\n
Since last week when the traders first became aware of the works starting, the association has been in discussion with the company managing the installation of the tower about how best to manage the disruption to the car park during school holidays.<\/p>\n
OGBA committee member Cathy Staehr said the contractors had been very accommodating once they were aware of the impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe actually can\u2019t fault the response of the project managers they have gone out of their way to help us.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe council owes them a huge thank you, as this situation has been handled effectively and pleasantly by the contractors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis did, and would have continued to, affect all our local business owners and all local shoppers.
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\n\u201cThis of course also directly affects our tourism and has an ongoing ripple effect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Staehr said the OGBA had negotiated less space to be taken up, so less car parks were lost.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe planned 22 car parks for three weeks is now 10 car parks for four days and then down to about four car parks for the remainder of the works – this is a huge improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said thanks to the OGBA, the tower was installed Monday evening and the container on site removed on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will reduce the impact on locals and local business during the school holidays, and will ensure our tourists are not affected,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Bookgrove owner Stacey Moore said she was appalled at the lack of communication and transparency with COGG in regard to the work that was taking place.<\/p>\n
\u201cOcean Grove businesses rely on tourism and are anticipating a great April School holiday period which incorporates Easter before the path of a long cold winter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is our last chance to build on our sales before the decline in tourism numbers takes place.\u201d<\/p>\n
City of Greater Geelong director of city services Guy Wilson-Browne said as a condition of the permit issued to install the telecommunications tower, the contractors were required to undertake 1a letter drop to traders impacted by the loss of car park space during the installation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will be working with the contractor to ensure that works are either completed in time or put on hold to minimise any impact on the car park over the Easter period.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OCEAN Grove traders say the City of Greater Geelong \u201ccompletely dropped the ball\u201d by allowing the installation of a telecommunications tower in their shopping centre car park during the \u201clast hurrah for the tourist season\u201d. Ty Simons, Ocean Grove Business Association president and owner of Driftwood, said what traders described as \u201cThe Great Easter Carpark […]<\/p>\n