Adelaide’s parking woes are getting a long-overdue solution with a bold plan for bigger garages and fewer cars on our streets.
Ever been frustrated when you’re trying to visit a mate and you just can’t find a park near their place? Or you go to park in your rental’s garage and your ute barely fits?
Well, some proposed new laws have been introduced to combat these problems. Let’s take a look.
What’s been proposed?
The state government is proposing changes to planning legislation to establish new minimum off-street carparking requirements for new residential developments in Greater Adelaide.
Under the draft bill, new homes would need to have a certain number of off-street carparks based on their number of bedrooms.
For a one-bedroom dwelling, there’d need to be at least one carpark, and homes with two or more bedrooms would be required to have at least two carparks.
What about carpark sizes?
Yep, they’re part of the planned changes too. Minimum dimensions for off-street parking areas would be increased, so that the most popular vehicles sold in South Australia – we’re talking large dual cab utes and SUVs – would actually fit.
Under the proposal, the size of a single vehicle park would be 3.5m wide and 6m long, with the minimum garage door size increased to 3m. Currently, the allowable dimensions are 3m x 5.4m with a 2.4m garage door. So, no more smashing car doors into garage walls!
In saying that, off-street parking areas could be driveways that aren’t enclosed, but at least one of the spaces would need to be capable of being made into a garage or carport in the future.
And this is not just a change the state government is pushing. SA councils voted in favour of increasing garage sizes in new homes at the Local Government Association’s Annual General Meeting last year.
Campbelltown Mayor Jill Whittaker says parking has become a “challenge” in local streets that were built for less traffic and street parking.
“Current minimum parking sizes do not cater for the many larger vehicles being purchased by many people,” she says.
Would the rules apply to everyone?
The laws would apply to all residential developments within Greater Adelaide.
But the state government says the CBD, North Adelaide and infill developments on public transport routes could be made exempt by ministerial notice.
In limited and exceptional circumstances where property developers and builders do not meet the requirements, they would be forced to pay a fee of up to $45,000 per garage.
This money would go into a new taxpayer fund, called the Vehicle Parking Fund, which would be used to build more public parking, maintain existing public carparks and improve bike parking and routes.
Why the change?
In Australia, bigger cars are getting more and more popular.
Data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries shows that nine of the 10 most popular new car models across the nation for 2024 were SUVs or dual-cab utes. The Ford Ranger ute was the most-purchased new car, followed by the Toyota RAV4 and the Toyota HiLux.
How does that size up? Well, the Ford Ranger is up to 5.4m long and 2.2m wide. And those current garage sizes again? They’re 5.4m x 3m, meaning many of our modern cars simply don’t fit (you kind of need to be able to open your car doors after all!)
There’s also been an increase in urban infill, as South Australia’s population grows. This means people are living more densely – and where there’s more people, there’s inevitably more cars.
So what’s next?
The proposed changes follow an extensive review into SA’s planning system by a panel of four experts, completed in 2023.
They’ll now be part of a targeted consultation campaign by the state government, in conjunction with the building and construction industry and local government, before any laws are implemented.
Have an opinion on the proposed planning changes? You can put forward your feedback at YourSAy here.
