Council’s own parking plan at odds with car park sale proposal

Sunshine Coast Council’s push to sell the Howard Street/Sydney Street car park is being questioned against its own adopted parking strategy, which identifies the site as a key piece of infrastructure and even flags it as a potential location for expanded parking.

The Nambour Local Area Parking Plan, formally adopted by council in 2017, highlights strong demand for central parking driven by employees, patients and customers accessing nearby services. 

The document notes that parking close to key destinations was “heavily utilised”, while more distant options are less practical due to distance and topography, a point now central to community concerns about losing a core CBD car park.

Importantly, the plan identifies the Howard Street site itself as a candidate for future parking expansion, including investigation of a multi-storey facility to meet growing demand – not its removal. 

Nambour Groups chair Rhonda Billett said the “adopted” status of the plan raised serious questions about council’s current direction. "I'm just not sure how a council-endorsed Parking Plan for Nambour was not considered in the report on this.  This Parking Plan should have been identified and recognised as a potential risk in the original recommendation being put to the councillors who are the ones making the final decision on the matter. 

“This neglected aspect in the report raised some concerns from my perspective and as Nambour continues to attract new CBD investment opportunities we need to get our existing policies, community foundations and economic outcomes further aligned.  After reflecting on everything, this acquisition feels like it was potentially being rushed through, with not enough thought and consideration regarding Nambour's CBD.

“Any amendments or changes regarding this parking document would need to be voted on first,” she said.

The plan also warns that population growth, forecast at more than 30 per cent, will place increasing pressure on parking supply, reinforcing the need to monitor and expand capacity rather than reduce it.  

Separately, the plan’s own data raises questions about how parking demand in Nambour has been interpreted. While businesses have been told parking is not a major issue, council’s heat mapping shows the CBD itself operating at around 80–90 per cent occupancy during the day, compared with significantly lower utilisation on the fringes of town.  

Critics say those outer-area figures have been used to “average out” parking availability across Nambour, downplaying pressure in the town centre where it matters most to businesses like those surrounding the Howard Street car park.

The contradiction comes as council considers the sale of the site for affordable housing, a move that triggered widespread community opposition and an eight-week deferral of the decision.

"I've really had a good look at everything I possibly can regarding the current Nambour car park/Coast2Bay acquisition and after discovering a few conflicting aspects, I see we have some work ahead of us with the future of the Nambour CBD.  But we will get this sorted out for our community along side all levels of government as well as current and future private investors." 

• Council has deferred a decision on the proposed sale of the Howard Street/Sydney Street car park after widespread opposition.

Readers can view and sign a petition opposing the sale at www.change.org by searching “Hands off Howard Street car park” or via  https://c.org/BbTtMCWyYN

Rhonda Billett: “Any amendments or changes regarding (council's) parking document would need to be voted on first.”