A SOLUTION to overcrowded, congested Sydney streets may be here, with a stacker holding up to eight cars recently approved for construction in Bellevue Hill. Woollahra Council has given permission for two triple-stackers to be installed where a two-car garage currently exists on Cranbrook Rd, Bellevue Hill.
The stackers, both capable of holding four cars are worth $41,000 each.
How they work
While the Bellevue Hill stacker is for vintage car collector Adnan Sibai, the precedent could be set to see more multi-level stackers in Woollahra.
Deputy Mayor and member of Woollahra Council’s development control committee Katherine O’Regan hailed it as a solution to the eastern suburbs’ congested, car-lined streets.
“I would support the use of car stackers in principle, because parking is a premium on the streets,” she said.
“I think it provides a solution in some circumstances and I think it should be an option that people could consider.” O’Regan said each case would have to be assessed on its merits. “The site-by-site assessment would have to include the excavation requirements and traffic movements of any specific street.”
A Hercules triple stacker. Two of these will create an eight-car stacker in Bellevue Hill.
Greens Cr Matthew Robertson and Mayor Toni Zeltzer voted against the development application on environmental grounds.
Cr Robertson said it went against the council’s land environment plan (LEP) which only allowed two car parks.
He said his views on climate change meant he could not support the application because of the amount of excavation needed and the energy expended by such a system.
A council spokeswoman said the plan was passed because it “meets the objectives governing this control as it will be placed within the footprint of an existing two car garage”.
Hercules Carparking Systems, who will place Mr Sibai’s stacker later this year.
Managing director of Hercules, Terry Smith said demand for the product has “increased sharply” over the last year and “the upcoming installations will be five times greater in number than last year”.
Prospect Council wants solutions for narrow streets. Could car stackers be the answer?
They have commitments to install 3000 spaces in Australia this year with more expected. He said the stackers had most benefits for apartment buildings. The business is also seeing a boom in the eastern suburbs. “We have installed approximately 150 parking spaces in the last 10 years with the majority being in the last three years, and many more to follow.”
- Many more cars can be parked in a much smaller cube than would be parked using traditional car parks;
- There is a much higher level of protection cars;
- Increases property value.
Robbie Patterson
