Back in 2022 when council developed guidelines for Footpath Trading, the resulting document stated that a business could apply to council for permission to trade on the roadway. It went on to say that “this would [generally] be for the installation of a deck where parking exists to become an outside dining area.”

The idea has been raised earlier in the 2021 Greater Glenorchy Plan (page 77). That document stated in relation to the Moonah CBD that “it also has under-utilised parking areas that could be transformed into parklets which will provide green open spaces for the community to use for passive recreation and events”.

Council last year (without public announcement or consultation) started to look into the potential for parklets in the Moonah CBD. The Mayor let slip the parklet project in her announcements at the November 2025 Open Council. We have heard nothing since.

So at last night’s (January 2026) council meeting in public question time the following question was asked.

“Was Council intending to consult with the public as well as ‘affected businesses’? And what more can you tell us about progress on that project?”

Here is what we learnt (view recording here).

“CEO: We have made some progress with some design work. There has been some consultation with businesses. We did have a session out of hours and invited businesses to make contributions and we are progressing. We expect to see more movement this financial year.

Director Patrick Marshall: The first thing we had to do was speak with Metro Tasmania about the possibility of relocating some bus stops so that the parklets would have the most benefit. We had to do some trials of different types of location – that was successful. The next stage is targeted consultation with businesses that would be directly affected by where they’ll be – parking and things like that. Once we’ve done that targeted consultation we’ll go out to wider consultation with the public.”

The Moonah strip is very commercial and functional and many might find some vegetation, trees or plants, pleasant and relaxing. A roadway with parking on both sides leaves little room for a median strip of trees as in the Glenorchy CBD so parklets seem the only viable alternative. We look forward to seeing a design or plan to give us a clearer idea of what is proposed and where.

Sources

Click to access Footpath-Trading-Guidelines.pdf

Click to access Greater-Glenorchy-Plan.pdf

Recording of Jan 2026 Open Council – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d49wYHVSy9Y – start time 21:40.

Image sourced from Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons Licence.