Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher says he ''got it wrong'' after yesterday's bid to turn Harbour St, in Oamaru's Victorian Precinct, into a pedestrian-only street during summer business hours met resistance and stalled.
The Waitaki District Council yesterday decided to meet Harbour St businesses to ''further refine'' the proposed precinct traffic-calming plan - which the mayor publicly backed last week.
In the public forum before yesterday's meeting, eight speakers aired a range of views on the plan: from Waitaki Tourism Association chairman James Glucksman, who said the association believed the ''pedestrianisation'' of Harbour St to create a ''destination retail area'' should be trialled as soon as possible; to Harbour St furniture-dealer Oasis Antiques owner Greg Waite, who last week organised a petition against restricting cars on the street, and argued the council could be making a ''shocking mistake'' pursuing the proposal.
After the decision to review the plan, Mr Kircher said, while he had spent about 30 hours in one-on-one meetings with businesspeople in the area, he had not fully consulted businesses and he had not fully involved councillors in the proposal either.
''I got it wrong,'' he said.
''I genuinely thought I had covered off all the detail with the councillors, but I hadn't. I'd been repeating the details so much to so many people ... I got it wrong, and they weren't as involved.
''The agreement [from businesses in the area] I was getting was indicating that it wasn't going to be a problem ... And it would be... a fairly straightforward process. That didn't happen.''
Yesterday, councillors voted to earmark $60,000 for roading, pedestrian and parking improvement work in the precinct. After the decision, Mr Kircher said he believed 30kmh temporary speed limits for Humber, Itchen, Wansbeck and Tyne Sts in the area could be put in place, as could the proposal's improvements to the service lane behind Harbour St.
Of the budget approved yesterday, $8000 was tagged for bollards, which could be used to stop cars entering Harbour St in the morning.
Mr Kircher said while he had ''personally resisted a closure'' of Harbour St to cars for ''quite some time'' he had now changed his mind, and despite recent ''vociferous objection from some parties'' he said ''pedestrianisation can work - businesses should back themselves a bit more''.
Cr Melanie Tavendale proposed a meeting be held with ''affected businesses'' to find a compromise.
Cr Hugh Perkins sought confirmation no proposal could be introduced ''under the radar'', and argued successfully for requiring another decision at a council meeting so that ''a permanent part-time closure of Harbour St will not be introduced without formal consideration by council''.
