Despite an extensive consultation process, some traders still feel they have more to learn about the Murray Bridge council's plans to upgrade Sixth Street.
The council accepted letters and comments, held individual and group meetings, wrote to all town centre traders and property owners, sent staff to shopping centres and displayed plans at prominent locations last August for the consultation.
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It consulted the public on its town centre master plan and traffic plan, which laid the groundwork for the redevelopment, in 2012 and 2013.
Councillors, elected to represent the community, gave their input on the plans at six different meetings since last June.
There were 110 pages of information about the project in the publicly-available agenda for January's meeting.
But they all missed the point, some traders said - the council was trying to make a consultant's vision fit Sixth Street, rather than asking what Sixth Street really needed.
Murray Bridge Hotel owner Karen Milesi said the street's surface and footpaths were overdue for an upgrade, but ratepayers' money would be better spent on a multi-storey car park.
"What I need is lots of car parking, lots of traffic; not a shared zone, meandering traffic," she said.
"Who's going to drive down this street if you see it as a pedestrian street?
"It's a gamble and I'm going to pay if it doesn't work."
The RAA's Kym Goonan worried there would not be enough car parks for shops to share with the town hall and two hotels.
"A lot of our customers are elderly and disabled people, and they always say they have trouble finding parks as it is," she said.
Balcony on Sixth owner Jeremy Simpson said there had not been enough meaningful dialogue between the council and business owners.
"A good start would be for our newly elected council to commence talking to the interested parties about this major project that is on our doorsteps before embarking on the reported tender process," he said.
The council resolved last month to call for tenders for the project, then present the bids to councillors in April, then make a final decision on whether to proceed.
The redevelopment will cost $3.4 million, including $1.7 million from a State Government program intended to help develop significant community spaces.
