
A proposal for parking fees to be introduced to central city carparks on Sundays will be consulted on during development of the Dunedin City Council’s nine-year plan.
The idea was introduced by deputy mayor Cherry Lucas, who said fees in the central city would promote parking turnover.
Dunedin businessman Chin Loh, who co-owns Marbecks and is director of pharmacy brand Antidote, said he supported the charges.
It was ‘‘counter-intuitive’’ for stores to open on Sunday while staff used nearby carparks.
‘‘Parking is limited now . . . it is a bonus for the weekend staff, but unfortunately it does come at the expense of . . . customers.
Fees would discourage workers from parking close to their work places — freeing up parks for customers.
‘‘Then it stops the carpark being hogged by one person the whole day,’’ he said.
‘‘That would be one of the aims of the council and the business community as well — that people are able to access [the central city] when they want to.’’
‘‘If you have the ability to pay for that access, that's great.’’
Golden Centre Mall director Jason La Hood said he could see both sides of the issue.
‘‘It’s always been a contention.
‘‘Obviously, there's a need for parking turnover versus giving the ratepayers a break from constant costs.’’
If the council went ahead with parking fees, he suggested a compromise whereby the first hour of parking was free.
‘‘I think you can achieve the result without hitting the ratepayer from the moment they get to the CBD.’’
Business South chief executive Mike Collins said it was vital the centre city was accessible for shoppers.
‘‘Retailers are really wanting it to be easily accessible, [so] that we've got fewer barriers to enable people to be able to get into the city . . . and there is not another roadblock to getting people into our retail and hospitality spaces,’’ he said.
‘‘From my perspective, the long-term plan has to really think about making retail accessible.
‘‘So if they're going to charge for parking, then there has to become some consideration for an alternative means to make sure that on those Sundays, the retail spaces are accessible and it's not going to be a deterrent to the public coming into town.’’