The council is carrying out a consultation process on a proposal from Waitaki Girls' High School, whose campus the road bisects, to close Ouse St between Thames and Reed Sts.
Already the council has had 320 responses to its appeal for feedback and yesterday it received another 279 signatures on a petition opposing closing the street.
"This is a fantastic response and the council is really pleased," its assets manager, Neil Jorgensen said.
The consultation had shown people were passionate about the issue, both for and against closing the street, which is the main route to the Derwent St and Reservoir Rd residential areas.
Waitaki Girls' raised the possibility of closing Ouse St in 2002, but the council rejected it.
When work started on ripping up the street to replace pipelines and the road base, the school again approached the council, asking for it to be closed. That prompted the council to consider the request, prepare a sketch plan and ask for feedback on the idea.
Mr Jorgensen said once road works were completed, the street would reopen next week.
"The street will remain open while the community debates whether or not it should be closed permanently," he said.
The deadline for responses was to be tomorrow, but had been extended another week.
Several submitters had asked for the opportunity to speak to the council, and time had been provided for those who wished to do so.
They could speak at a public meeting on Monday at 6pm in the Opera House or at the council meeting on August 23 at 9am.
All submissions would be considered, whether they were verbal or written, along with comments from the public meeting.
Already, comments had raised a number of issues for the council to consider, including. -
• Waitaki Girls' would be safer without the street passing through the campus.
• The safety of the Reed-Ouse-Derwent Sts and Eden-Reed Sts intersections.
• Increasing congestion in Reed St making it more dangerous for pupils at two primary schools.
• Right turning into Thames Highway would become more difficult unless more traffic lights were installed.
• The amount of money already spent on Ouse St and State Highway 1 traffic lights.
