Project update December 2023

Thank you to everyone who provided their feedback for this consultation. In total we received 239 responses to our survey and spoke to over 100 people at our in-person pop-up consultations.

The feedback received was overwhelmingly supportive of the design proposal with the majority of respondents welcoming the change from a road to a park. We used the ideas you shared with us in both stages of the consultation to finalise the Concept Plan which was taken to the Council Meeting on Tuesday 12 December, and successfully endorsed by Council.

You can view the final Concept Plan along with the Stage 2 Consultation Report for the second round of engagement which took place in August 2023.

We will keep you up-to-date with timelines for the park's construction.

Temporary road closure

At the December Council Meeting, Council also noted the temporary road closure of Charlotte Street between Church Street and St Crispin Street for the purpose of installing a temporary pop-up park from Monday 5 February until Monday 15 April 2024.

A traffic and parking study will be conducted prior to the road being reopened.

This period of temporary road closure will allow us to further understand the impact a road discontinuance would have on local traffic and parking conditions. The traffic and parking studies will be undertaken by an independent traffic engineering and transport planning consultancy to determine any transport movement impacts in the local neighbourhood.

The pop-up park will include seating and large pot plants, so that people can enjoy sitting outside over the summer months. While this is the same location as the proposed Charlotte Street Park, this will be a temporary installation and not indicative of the design of the final park.

Entry to the library and footpaths will remain accessible, but the road will be closed to all motor vehicles.

Second round of community engagement

We used the feedback you provided us at the end of last year, to create a draft Concept Plan for the proposed pocket park on Charlotte Street. This design responded to the key themes identified from your feedback, creating a public open space with trees and greenery for the community to gather and socialise or just relax and read a book under the shade of a tree.

You can read a summary of what we heard in our first round of consultation in the section below - 'Feedback from round 1' and in our Consultation Findings Report.

In the design, we have considered aspects such as:

• Safety and equity, ensuring that the park will be accessible and usable for all of the community.
• Improving pedestrian footpaths and bike parking facilities.
• Opportunities to cater for quick drop-offs into the library.
• Looking at suitable location for the accessible parking bay.

From Friday 28 July until Monday Monday 28 August we invited you to review the draft Concept Plan and tell us what you think. Check it out using the interactive map and by looking though our image slide and document library.

A bit about the project

We have a unique opportunity to create more open space in Richmond.

Did you know that only 12% of the overall area of central Richmond is open space?

To make sure more of our community has access to nearby open space, we’re proposing to close the western end of Charlotte Street (between Church and St Crispin streets, in front of Richmond Library) to turn it into a small pocket park.

This exciting new pocket park would reclaim the roadway and provide greenery, shade and seating, making it an area to relax in and to meet friends.

The possibility of creating a park in this location was first noted as part of the Swan Street Streetscape Masterplan in 2021. During the community consultation for the masterplan, the idea of reclaiming the roadway to create a pocket park in Charlotte Street was well-supported.

Thank you for providing your feedback on our proposal to close part of Charlotte Street in Richmond to create a new pocket park.

We received lots of interest including 256 responses to our survey, a petition opposing the proposal and a number of emails from residents. The results were very positive in favour of the park with:

• 68% agreeing to the proposal
• 25% objecting and
• 7% were unsure.

Council has now considered the findings from the Stage 1 Consultation and Council staff are progressing with a concept design for the proposed park. We will then undertake another round of community consultation on the design in August 2023.

Findings from the Consultation

From the 256 responses to the open-ended questions, five key themes emerged and included:

A number of responses were concerned about the impact on traffic in and around the local streets with the proposed new park. Detailed traffic studies were conducted throughout March 2022 (when Covid-19 restrictions were not in place) by an independent consultant, Traffix Group who specialise in traffic modelling.

Read the full Consultation Report for more information.

Traffic Impact Assessment Summary

Data for the traffic modelling was collected in March 2022 over multiple days and at multiple times including weekday peak hours, and peak times on weekends. The study period was selected outside of school holidays and any local road works were also factored into the traffic modelling.

Traffic

The report indicates that the projected increase of vehicle numbers for Elm Grove, due to the closure of Charlotte Street, is estimated to be up to 500 additional cars per day.The traffic modelling shows that this is anticipated to be spread over the day as follows:

• During the AM peak (8-9am) an additional 10 cars are expected, which is up to 1 car every 6 minutes
• During the PM peak hour (5.30 to 6.30PM), up to an additional 75 cars are expected, which is 1.25 cars every minute on average
• Outside of peak hours, traffic would be more spread out at an average of up to 19 additional cars per hour, or approximately 1 car every 3 minutes.

The report outlines that Elm Grove and Charles Street can accommodate up to 3,000 vehicles per day. This is known as the 'environmental capacity' of the street which is the number of cars a street can handle before the traffic volume has a negative impact on the street and its surroundings. The projected figures show that if a park was created, then the expected traffic volume for the busiest street would be 1,450 cars per day. This is approximately half of the capacity.

Parking and accessibility

The proposed new park may result in a loss of 5 on-street car parks but no car parks located directly outside of residential properties will be affected.Parking in the area will be monitored into the future, and further parking reviews may need to be completed to address availability and traffic turnover once the park is constructed.

The impact of a road closure and loss of car parking would result in an average of 68% parking occupancy during the typical morning and daytime periods, and above 90% occupancy in the evening. This means there would be parking available throughout the day.

The traffic report identifies the requirement of a disabled parking bay close to the entrance of the library for any future design. This requirement will be incorporated into the design of the park.

Pedestrians and cyclists

The report also indicates that the proposed new park will provide benefits for pedestrians and cyclists, such as a continuous footpath along Church Street, more opportunities for greening, shade and seating opportunities and additional bike parking.

What is possible for the proposed pocket park?