Gerry Blom
TWO long-time stallholders at Albury’s Rotary Sunday market say they will to move to a Wilson Street car park until a permanent market place is established.
Dutch-born Gerry Blom, whose family has sold Dutch pancakes at the market for more than 30 years, said the three-deck Wilson Street site was workable.
“It’s in the grey-cloud area until we have ‘been there and done that’,” Mr Blom said.
“Time will tell if its suits stallholders — it depends on how Rotary organises things.”
Health rules require food stalls to be in the open, but Mr Blom said wind gusts could cause issues for those using the open top deck.
Ray Williams, who sells bird baths and garden ornaments under the name Concrete Creations, said he believed the proposed site was ideal.
He said Rotary should advertise the new site widely to let people know where the market was.
No market will be held tomorrow or next Sunday but the Albury Council and the Rotarians hoped to have Wilson Street in use from January 27.
City director of economic development Tracey Squire said neighbours and business people who feared they might be affected could contact her next week.
Details of how Wilson Street would be managed were still being worked out, and some stalls selling food and drink might be allowed at ground level, she said.
The car park, built in 2007, can house 354 cars over three levels. The ground level would be set aside for parking on market days.
Most stalls would be housed under cover at first-floor level and others on the top deck.
Ms Squire said the council hoped a new three-deck car park would be opened on the “gasworks” car park within a year, making the capacity of the site more than 700 spaces.
“Developer David Harper will build the car park for the council and we are talking to him about space for the Rotarians to manage a market there,” she said.
“We haven’t yet worked how out the market would use it — whether it’s in the open or the new building.”
The Albury North and Belvoir Rotary clubs have had to abandon their market site in Townsend Street with work on building the Quest Apartments starting on Monday.
