THE City of Swan has decided to modify its Ellenbrook town centre payment in lieu of parking plan, which was only put out for public advertising in May.

On September 9 Swan councillors voted for an officer’s recommendation to ensure the payment in lieu of parking plan was transparent about the costs to be paid by a developer wishing to seek approval without providing the required number of parking bays.

The officer’s report recommended the payment in lieu of parking plan be changed from requiring the payment in lieu expense per bay to be based on an infrastructure cost per square metre to being based on the cost of constructing a single at-grade parking space.

According to the report the cost will be calculated on an annual basis and updated when required within the plan.

At the time of adoption, the applicable fee per bay was $7500 – based on an infrastructure cost of $500 per square metre and using an approved method of calculation governed by the WA Planning Commission.

The Planning and Development (Local Planning Schemes) Regulations 2015 include within the deemed provisions a requirement for payment in lieu of parking plans to be prepared to allow the collection of cash in lieu for parking for relevant developments.

Infrastructure items that payment in lieu can be used for under the plan include construction of public car parking facilities, general car parking and specialised bays (ACROD, on-demand transport-taxi bays).

It can also be used for improvements to existing public car parking facilities, provision of associated lighting and supporting parking infrastructure, including parking ticket machines-parking metres and other parking technology to support parking management measures, parking control signage and line marking.

Other transport infrastructure that payment in lieu will be used for include construction of new, or upgrades to existing, pedestrian and bike riding infrastructure (including traffic calming measures, footpaths, shared paths, secure bicycle parking facilities and end of trip facilities).

Things to improve public transport use, construction of public motorcycle parking and installation of wayfinding and signage can also be paid for.

Ancillary or incidental purposes include the provision of shade trees, street furniture and education campaigns to encourage public transport and active transport use.

“No funds from the reserve account shall be used for the operation of car parks, or to fund parking enforcement,’’ the officer’s report said.

The Q & A section about the payment in lieu of parking plan on the city’s website said it would be implemented when new developments were proposed and the required number of parking bays could not be provided on the site.

In this instance the city can accept payment in lieu when it was not possible for developers to provide parking or enough parking bays (noting this referred to new developments where adequate number of parking bays were not provided, not developers taking existing bays away).