$29m parking fund approved

Tauranga City Council have underlined their intention to bolster off-street parking stocks with a $29 million fund approved for a new parking building

During this week's Long Term Plan (LTP) deliberations, councillors voted 10-1 for the provision of additional off-street city centre parking in the shape of $24 million for a new city centre parking building and $5 million for an extension of the existing Elizabeth Street facility.


Councillor Steve Morris put forward the idea of looking at extending the Cliff Road car park right up to the rose gardens. Photos: Bruce Barnard.

The Elizabeth Street work is expected to create a further 110 spaces.

The $24 million building is due to be built during the first three years of the LTP, between now and 2018, with the Elizabeth Street extension to follow.

The proposal aims to ensure enough parking for both visitors and workers in the city centre, and support its economic growth

The associated costs would be funded through debt which would be repaid through parking charges and fines across the city. The annual operating costs of the new car park building would be $1.4 million and $360,000 for the additional Elizabeth Street floor.

Council's transportation manager, Martin Parkes, says demand is coming from the commercial sector, who are looking for secured facilities for employees.

There is currently two years remaining on Cliff Road car park's five year lease, where up to 72 people can park for $2 all day.

A second site, if consent is granted, opposite Brown Street, would yield a further 73 spaces, says Martin.

But he urges councillors not to delay the decision making process for too long.

'I think if we push back with the time of the facility, that can impact on the city centre,” says Martin.

An area of contention for councillors during the deliberations was the future of the Cliff Road car park.

Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby says the car park should only be a short-term option given its position as a 'prime location” within the city.

'It's not the kind of real estate we leave to park cars on it,” says Stuart. 'The longer we park cars there the longer it's going to take to get them off it.

'I don't want us to butcher it with a series of ad-hoc decisions.”

Councillor Bev Edlin says council needs to come to terms with the fact that this region is one of the fastest-growing the country, bolstered by burgeoning retail and commercial sectors.

But she is adamant Cliff Road is more valuable than a car park, saying: 'We have a site up there that most centres would envy.”

Councillor John Robson says Cliff Road has the potential to be an 'iconic international venue” offering space for more than a car park.

Meanwhile, Councillor Steve Morris says with Trustpower's new building in Durham Street moving ahead, and with the Tertiary Campus and a hotel in Spring Street confirmed, the city is looking at around $200million of building in the next five years - something not many other CBD's nationwide can lay claim to.

Yet this growth, says Steve, means there is a general demand for further car parking in the city.

He urged council to investigate the option of extending the Cliff Road car park right to the edge of the rose gardens, pushing the $24 million carpark back two years in the process.

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8 comments

Hey Steve ...

Posted on 05-06-2015 16:24 | By Murray.Guy

Shame your Mayor and mates removed the CBD 'Parking Development Impact Fee'. I recall the advice from staff at the time, an abundance of parking stock to carry us well in to the future! Ratepayers now subsidizing CBD developers and the egos of non-contributors big time!


YOU MUST BE JOKING

Posted on 05-06-2015 19:01 | By Margot Rose

Hasnt the lack of shoppers in the CBD given any clue that a carpark building way up on Cliff Road is never going to work?? Seriously, whose going to walk from Cliff Road unless you offer a shuttle bus that delivers workers every few minutes into a central drop off area. A long walk into an Office on a wet day.


Talking through holes in their collective TCC heads

Posted on 05-06-2015 21:33 | By kellbell

@Murray Guy you got that spot on mate.So the Council dropkicks left the Parking king hit till last on the list to make it 10 out of 10 for the perfect storm in idiotic outcomes- what with reverse pikes, double flips, backward bends, forward rolls, tripledips,sidewinding,sommersaulting kneejerking ,planking and last but not least headbanging.It is a wonder they didn't decide today to erect a multi storey carpark at Cliff Road site -sorry I should not have said that it will give them bad ideas.


SORRY, did I miss something ?

Posted on 05-06-2015 22:07 | By The Caveman

I will never park at Robins Park and WALK down to the CDB, for the purposes of shopping. Once in the CDB do you really think that I will WALK back up with my purchases - TCC GET REAL. You are not even on this planet !!!!


Its

Posted on 06-06-2015 09:32 | By Capt_Kaveman

Not their money so lets blow it on more nice haves, i dont see loads of people trying to find parks so there is not a shortage, we have a bus service thats overflowing at 8.30am / 3.00pm but remains only 30% utilized over the rest of the day


Car parks

Posted on 06-06-2015 12:37 | By tia

When are the politicians going to see sense and stop using valuable innercity land for car parks? Develop decent car parks in the outer suburbs (Bethlehem, Welcome Bay, Papamoa etc) and lay on a decent affordable commuter bus service same as the do in Cities like Sydney and Perth.


Why did u gift parking land to uni?

Posted on 06-06-2015 12:53 | By Annalist

Why in the name of anything sensible did the ratepayer funded council give land they had bought for parking to the university project that should be tax funded? Even the parking impact fee wouldn't have been enough for the new parking but why make things worse by removing it? And who is going to pay to park in buildings when the street parking becomes free???


How lazy are you?

Posted on 06-06-2015 15:03 | By Jolene Publique

If you can't walk down from Cliff road to the shops. And are you really going to be carrying so much heavy shopping that you can't get back up to Cliff road? People who generally have issues with walking distances get disabled parking passes. People don't want to walk and also don't want to pay. Choose which suits you. Also if you are walking down Cliff Road you can pop into the lovely Tropical Plant House.


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