Public to have say on parking proposal

Dunedin residents will be given a say on a proposal to convert more than 250 free car parking spaces to paid ones.

The Dunedin City Council voted yesterday to approve for public consultation parking changes which could result in meters being added to 253 free parking spaces in the city's tertiary and warehouse precincts.

Only Cr Lee Vandervis voted against the motion.

In North Dunedin, 185 free parking spaces in Clyde St, Union St East, Harbour Tce, Forth St and Albany St would be changed to metered parking.

There would be no time limits added to the metered parking spaces.

Seven spaces in Union St, near Clyde St, would be changed to resident only parking.

Under the proposal, 68 free 60- and 90-minute spaces in Vogel, Bond and Crawford Sts between Jetty and Police Sts would become metered.

A majority of the new paid parks would have a time restriction of 120 minutes, but there would also be some all-day paid parking available.

The changes are aimed at encouraging parking turnover in high use areas.

Cr Vandervis asked council transport group manager Richard Saunders if he thought commuter parking would still be possible in the areas affected by the changes.

Under the proposal, all day parking in the Vogel St area would not be possible because of the time restrictions, but commuters could still park all day in the tertiary area, if they paid for it, Mr Saunders said.

Cr Vandervis then asked Mr Saunders if he believed a person with an all-day job would be able to leave throughout the day to ''fill the meter''.

People could pay for all-day parking when they arrived or they could use the PayMyPark phone app and top up their parking using their phone throughout the day when needed, he said.

Parking bylaw subcommittee chairman Cr Andrew Whiley said it was important residents knew they would have a chance to have their say on the changes.

 - tim.miller@odt.co.nz