Melbourne’s beloved parklets are too big to fail as restaurants pay for street dining

Mihailidis believes that creating small parks can give Melbourne a more European feel and encourage people to interact with each other.

The Banyule City Council has announced that no applications for a park permit have been received to date.

Phillip Mansour, director of Carlton Inc., a local business association in Carlton, estimates that 95 percent of businesses that had parklets installed during the lockdown have paid to keep them since Melbourne City Council introduced the charge about two years ago.

“Companies have incurred these costs and are convinced that the investment will pay for itself,” Mansour said.

“It’s a bit of a shock when you have to pay for that extra space, but … they are already looking forward to the summer period with the extra outdoor dining space, as they have done in recent years.”

Nic Sandery, owner of Molly Rose Brewery in Collingwood, loved having a three-space parklet in front of his business, but closed it temporarily after noise complaints from neighbors. He plans to reopen it on a limited basis because “street food is a great, great thing” and “it’s been good for our business.”

If he does, he will have to pay Yarra City Council $2,425 per year per space, plus an application fee of $325. For high-traffic streets in the area, it costs $3,244.80 on a medium-traffic street and $5,408 on a high-traffic street to rent a space for the year.

“It’s a tricky issue because it’s generally not always weatherproof. So you have to take into account that you’re paying for it all year round, but you might only use it a third to half of the year,” Sandery said.

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“I think it’s worth promoting people who are having a fantastic time at your location.”

Some companies are willing to pay, but have not been able to successfully complete the application procedure with the municipality.

Thirty Mill cafe in Malvern has had a trial parklet installed by the council twice, but when the business applied to have it installed permanently it was turned down.

“We spent $3,000 on the architectural drawings they needed and getting everything done right, and then they ultimately denied the request,” said Michael Docker, Thirty Mill’s operations manager.

A spokesperson for the City of Stonnington said: “The application for a permanent parklet was refused due to safety concerns as the location of the parklet poses a risk of cars hitting the dining area when attempting to park.”

Docker disagrees, saying the cafe was on an open street, and hopes the council will change its position in the future.

According to Mihailidis, the owner of Souva So Good, the more parklets the better.

“What I think is important is that our parks create more of a sense of community.”