Mt Hotham: Parking At New Hotham

[GoSno]

What's going to happen to parking when New Hotham is built? If you look at the plans for the new three storey car park behind the Snowbird there are 501 car parks (less 30 the RMB gets). You can buy one for $50,000 (may have to buy a unit too). But your car park is available as paid public parking. Other visitors will pay $20 to use your park - if your not there. So to park in the village at Hotham the visitor now pays $50 a day which includes the gate entry. Where will you all park?

 

[snowclaws]

Just got an email this morning from Ray Group offering car spaces for sale for DP owners.

That's great- use parking sales as another money making opportunity when there isn't sufficient spaces now! It's all about the money..

 

[Klaski]

So how many Millionaire skiers that will come to Hotham do we have in Australia !

Just keep sqeezing the ordinary person.

There is a bright side to that though. Those people don't ski the real stuff so we will have it all to ourselves. Just got afford to get onto the mountain.

 

[Luken]

Probably expect us to park in Harrietville and get a bus up.......You know for our own safety

Gee that will be nice a convinient. I reckon after skiing Hotham for the last 25 years (im only 27) it's time for a boycott. I hate this elitest crap they are pushing at the moment. Makes Buller look hardcore.....

 

[SoldierBlue]

I will be parking at Falls Creek

 

[Rover]

I have pointed this out previously a number of times....
Day carparking has been opened up this year along the roadside. daytrippers are expected to unload, gear up, organise children with buses rushing past 3 feet away....
then you are expected to walk along the road to the nearest bus stop.
there is parking down past the new police station, but the same problem applies, you have to walk along the road with 3 kids, 4 pair of ski's, 8 poles, 16 gloves, 4 helmets etc to get to the bus stop...(the bus then comes..but its full- just like the next two.

Once again, it would seem that the focus on improvements in the resort only directly relate to real estate developement.
In my opinion it would seem that the developers have got the RMB on side as well.

Shame on you My Hotham for ignoring the daytripper.....

I always understood that it was part of the RMB's job to make the resort accessable to everybody, not just a selcet group of rich people that can afford a carpark or apartment built where the road used to be.


Grrrrrr...this whole situation makes me so angry.

 

[**Princess**]

As soon as they seal and maintain the Falls Creek/Omeo road I'll be going there instead.

 

[mr]

I've heard some pretty (previously) keen hotham people subtly hope for a couple of bad snow years to keep the investors away. This year has been a good start in that respect.

 

[VSG]

...., you have to walk along the road with 3 kids, 4 pair of ski's, 8 poles, 16 gloves, 4 helmets etc to get to the bus stop...(the bus then comes..but its full- just like the next two.

...
...Grrrrrr...this whole situation makes me so angry.

Bring back the Zoo carts. !

 

[snowclaws]

As soon as they seal and maintain the Falls Creek/Omeo road I'll be going there instead.

can't go that way Princess as the dam wall and Omeo side of the resort are Falls' XC trails in winter. Road is closed for winter.

 

[teckel]

Park your car below the gate and cycle up
A guy used to do that at LM, so they introduced an entrance fee for bicycles, just to get him.

 

[snowclaws]

talk about stifling ingenuity! bastards!

Not really possible to cycle over - no where to park really and you'd have to cycle for miles through snow (only groomed for XC)- it is a long way!

 

[TOFF]

Hotham will be stuffed in a few years if they continue along their current path. They will struggle to attract new visitors as, when I'm doing my sums to work out where to take my family skiing, Hotham will be far to restrictive and difficult. Hotham will always have visitors as many people are very loyal to a particular mountain, but new guests will become an issue. Good luck with property prices in a Ghost Town.

 

[teckel]

Get chains for your bike

or snow tyres

 

[Doonks]

will there still be day parking available at Wire Plain and Whiteys ?

 

[snowclaws]

don't know where the car park sales will be. All I was told was:

Coming soon:
Exclusive release of Hotham Village Car parking available for purchase. A privileged offering to DP Village Hotham owners first.

Could be Scrubbers End for all I know! Or Wire Plain/Whiskey Flat.

 

[Rover]

will there still be day parking available at Wire Plain and Whiteys ?

From what I understand, yes, once the roadside parking is full, cars will be directed to Wire Plain and Whiteys---which was once overnight parking. This will put a huge strain on the buses creating more traffic running thru the village.

I cannot see why the Corral carpark is not developed into a multi level day carpark also incorporating day shelter facilities for the daytripper.

A three level carpark with shops and shelter on the ground level would certainly handle all day traffic from the Harrietville side- they could even route an enterance to the carpark round the back of the snowbird.
Traffic from DP could be parked oppisite the Davenport area as it is currently. The resort/lift company should be subsidising the bus from DP to encourage usage of the bus as much as possible.

By parking the cars like this, the thru traffic will be greaty reduced.

With increased land sales down at DP, there will be a bigger demand for daytripper facilities in the near future.

Currently the only public toilets available are in the RMB building...last time I checked 3 cubicles in the mens room. The nexr nearest public toilet to this is at the bottom of slalom gully.

Maybe the resort just dosen't want daytrippers.

 

[VSG]

Think laterally guys. Give folks arriving from Harrietville the option of turning off short of mt blowhard and heading down to a Gondola, below the snowline, that will take them up avalanche gully. And provide a free oversnow to the various parts of Hotham village.

like this one I prepared earlier.

 

[Ben Lomond Brad]

VSG, that would make an awesome run home back to the car at the end of the day

 

[snowclaws]

the flaw in your argument VSG is "free oversnow"

nothing at Hotham is free!

 

[Highlander]

Snowclaws....Did your email from the Ray Group say anything about the carpak purchase being attached to a purchase of a unit as previously mentioned in this thread... or just a stand alone.I havnt been offered...not that I can afford it anyway.I caught the bus up from D.P. with the family (2 adults and 3 kids)and it was fine.Would have to do that a few times to make up a $50k investment, but i guess I'm not considering capital growth (if any) on a carpark.I also wonder what restrictions would be attached to the purchase..and if the owner can buy/sell on the open market going forward.

 

[MickM]

50K for a car park!!

Why would anyone bother. Way better skiing OS for that price. Doesn't Hotham realise they are a small hill in a small country (skiing wise). They may well price themselves out of the market.

IMHO, if Hotham becomes "Elitist" they will struggle to attract the very people they have marketed to over the years - advanced skiers. OS will be their preferred option.

 

[Crystal]

I agree 50K for a park, does it come with a kitchen and drying room. Maybe a plasma TV too thanks

 

[mr]

Building costs around $25-35K for each carpark in a multi-deck carpark in Melbourne.

By the time its become elitist the protagonists here will be long gorne.

 

[**Princess**]

can't go that way Princess as the dam wall and Omeo side of the resort are Falls' XC trails in winter. Road is closed for winter.

Can and will

Originally posted by Rover;
Currently the only public toilets available are in the RMB building...last time I checked 3 cubicles in the mens room. The nexr nearest public toilet to this is at the bottom of slalom gully.

With the Hotham Central reno over last summer, there is now public toilets near the Juice Bar.

 

[Crystal]

Very nice ones also. Shame there is no baby change facilities...I didn't mind changing my boy on the bench but Ig uess other users wouldn't have appreciated it.

 

[SkieratHotham]

It is acknowledged widely that Mt. Hotham sufferes from a lack of flat land on which to locate car parks.

The MFS "New Hotham" proposal, if approved, will take all of the flat land in the centre of the resort to build real estate. Having lost all of the Corral car park it is then necessary to divert the road and make it into a 3 story car park commencing at the bottom of the Summit Ski Run to replace some of the required car parks.

The possible 501 car parks being proposed by MFS is between 500 and 750 short of the number they should be providing when you take into account the 500 odd new apartments with between 2,500 and 3,000 new beds, at 1 car space per 3 beds, and the loss of "free" parking in the existing Corral and Loch car parks.

The existing stakeholders have already paid for these car parks in the Corral and Loch car parks!!

The other aspect of this that seems to have been lost sight of; is that at Mt. Hotham we have been building ski lodges and apartments on the hillsides due to the shortage of flat land for many years. Why do we suddenly need to use the only available flat land to build more apartments, is it because the building costs will be lower for MFS?

It seems to me that the only thing that the existing stakeholders get out of "New Hotham" is to pay for the car parks again.

 

[Snorkler]

Anyone got a good link to the plans, as in how it all lays out on the land?

 

[Rover]

so, who should we be writing to...to voice our concerns?

 

[VSG]

Anyone got a good link to the plans, as in how it all lays out on the land?

Hoffem website would be a good start.

http://www.mthotham.com.au/rmb/stakeholder/2005102724772.htm

http://www.mthotham.com.au/rmb/publications/images/CDP_Plans%20_1-4.pdf

 

[VSG]

No idea on how to interpret this one.. but useful, I think

http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/planningschemes/alpineresorts/maps/alpineresorts06zn.pdf

 

[SuskiQ]

so, who should we be writing to...to voice our concerns?

Minister Thwaites

 

[SkieratHotham]

In addition to writing to John Thwaites on the issues with the MFS development proposals it would be a good idea to write to your local lower and upper house members of Parliament as well.

The more people that are informed about this debate the more likely we are to have a sensible solution.

 

[Occasional Visitor]

The policy at Hotham that normally applies is that a developer has to pay the RMB $15000 for each 3 beds they add (using a standard formula to convert square metres to beds) - unless the developer supplies a new on-site car park for those 3 beds. These funds allow the RMB to build additional car-parking at the resort. So the $64,000 question is will the RMB be requiring Ray Group to pay for any shortfall in car-park spaces associated with teh new apartments they are building ?

 

[VSG]

I found the Car Parking document... warning.. 3.22mb in size.

http://www.mthotham.com.au/news/images/final%20discussion%20draft%20APS%20and%20PPP%2025_2_051.pdf

 

[Snorkler]

Seems that the car parking document seems to omit a few issues there, that's where it should be attacked and brought to the attention of the relevant bodies. That is, has the document failed to observe peripheral matters that it affects and thus create a false economy that must be born by the customer at the gate in increased gate entry costs.

 

[snowgum]

I'm off on a tangent here but forgive me.

After seeing the lower costs in NZ (admitedly helped by the 20% currency difference) I can't help think that we're loosing the plot in Oz with most of our resort developments.

Year after year, lift tickets, mtn entry & accom costs increase at a rate higher (often much higher) than CPI.

I'd love to know what % of our lift tickets (& bed $s) go straight into resort infrastructure & can't help wondering if the $Ms to be spent on Hotham's village would be better if spent on better snowmaking/lifts etc..

 

[The Plowking]

I'm off on a tangent here but forgive me.

After seeing the lower costs in NZ (admitedly helped by the 20% currency difference) I can't help think that we're loosing the plot in Oz with most of our resort developments.

Year after year, lift tickets, mtn entry & accom costs increase at a rate higher (often much higher) than CPI.

I'd love to know what % of our lift tickets (& bed $s) go straight into resort infrastructure & can't help wondering if the $Ms to be spent on Hotham's village would be better if spent on better snowmaking/lifts etc..

Hell ,even Japan is looking cheap these days.

 

[piranha]

Why cant they make a better shuttle service from the base? The current bus from Harrietville is too expensive compared to packing a car full of people and only leaves a couple of times a day at crap times. Sure season car permit holders and day trippers prob wont use it. But sometimes I'd rather just ditch my car down the bottom.

 

[frazels]

how about a Mt Loch carpark (on the actual mt Loch).

The Orchard/Loch area is very environmentally sensative, so I don't know if the greenies would allow it. But, it could make for some good park the car - clip in - ski - lift at the end of day - car.

Probably been discussed before, just want to see what you guys think as a viable alternative?

 

[Bogong]

Umm... Great idea, but...
That goat track between the Great Alpine Road and Mt Loch is very rough, has a lot of steep ups and downs and is under a couple of metres of snow in most winters.

However if they upgrade the track and clear the snow, it would provide great access to some fun runs! Greenie whinges? Simple, don't tell them. They won't notice because 90% of them spend their whole life in Brunswick Street cafes, so if they don't know about it, they won't whinge!

 

[cej]

Well I had no problem at all parking last Sunday for the day. Got a park in the Corral park directly opposite the Village chair! So on a dodgy day weather wise you should still get a park! (Btw, the skiing while limited wasn't too bad if you hopped inside when a few showers/ hail passed by!)

 

[Graeme]

cej, on a dodgy snow AND dodgy weather day carparking might not a problem

frazels, not a bad idea, though not likely to happen. to work it would need the Orchard to be reliably open - quite possible if they put development into the skiing half as much as the real estate, simply by piping the creek at the bottom lift station. It is not uncommon for the Orchard to be unused because the creek is open in places rather than because there is no snow on the slopes, even in 2006!

 

[GoSno]

Well I had no problem at all parking last Sunday for the day. Got a park in the Corral park directly opposite the Village chair!

In the new plan there ain't no more Corral car park. You'll pay $20 to park under the road or you'll put the car down at Davenport or beyond.

 

[cej]

Pay $20 on top of the $$$ for entry charges even on a stormy, low snow day? That won't be well recieved!

You can see what I mean by low snow by the pictures on my Hotham snow photos page (warning; large photos)!

 

[Nick P]

Reminds me of a line from the Movie, Out Cold.

Bull Mountain Mt Hotham, don't go changin'

 

[VSG]

You must remember this..........

 

[VSG]

 

[Bofter]

Where can I get one of those yellow jackets?

 

[DinnerPlainSkier]

How about putting a spur off the Great Alpine Rd from Hooterville or so along the valley below Feathertop/Razorback and building a 2000 vehicle car park. Then building a gondola from that car park up to Hotham with a mid-station at Baldy Hollow and the top station integrated into the new car park to be built.

The winners would be :
- gets idiots with NFI of snow driving off the road
- makes for lift access off the back of Summit
- becomes a year round attraction
- could service day trippers and longer stays with a gondola, ie luggage OK
- would be a race to see who was the first to caught caught doing the business in a gondola!