Two ‘Parklets’ will be installed in the Lismore CBD as part of a State Government-funded trial to help re-invigorate the city centre.
Lismore City Council’s Manager of Economic Development Tina Irish said some people remained hesitant to go into the CBD because they were concerned they couldn’t maintain a safe social distance.
“The great thing about this trial project is that it creates more public space within the CBD for people to safely congregate,” she said.
“This is not only important for the general community, but it’s also crucial to help our local businesses during the next phase of adapting to a COVID world.”
Under the trial project, ‘Spaced Out’ parklet will occupy one parallel car park space and include seating, vegetation, tree shade and colourful art to deliver a connection between existing green spaces within the city centre. They will be located in Keen and Molesworth streets.
“Importantly, the parklets’ locations have been specifically identified to minimise any potential impact to local businesses,” she said.
“As part of the project Council is also conducting a Social Distancing Awareness Campaign in the Lismore and Nimbin business centres.
“We believe this is a great project to help our local businesses. When the pandemic first hit, we ran an advertising campaign to encourage our local community to buy take away and purchase items from local businesses via their websites.
“We also removed fees to help businesses, like charges for outdoor dining.
“The parklet project is our latest program to help businesses keep their doors open and continue to provide jobs for locals.”
The parklet project will run for three months commencing mid-December 2020, with the Keen Street parklet the first to be installed. The project will include measurement of the impact of these temporary parklets during the trial period to understand their usage using digital data and QR Codes.
“Should the project receive positive feedback, work will be undertaken with the community in 2021 to identify future temporary parklet locations,” Ms Irish said.
Engagement with businesses in the vicinity of these two sites will occur over the coming weeks in the lead up to the parklet installation.
The trial project is funded by the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environments through its ‘Streets as Shared Spaces’ program.
Source: Lismore City Council