Councillors spent almost two hours discussing and debating proposed traffic changes around the hospital site at yesterday’s meeting, finally voting to move ahead with discussions on multi-level carpark development in the CBD.
They also requested government agencies establish more parks close to the hospital site.
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) have proposed a raft of proposed roading changes, aimed at making the area around Dunedin’s new hospital safer.
Much of the discussion was dominated by provision of carparks — a net loss of 29 central city carparks were expected through the changes.
Cr Andrew Simms said he was aware of at least two private proposals for multi-storey carpark developments to serve the hospital and centre city.
"I believed one of these proposals involves DCC land and that there have already been preliminary discussions with the DCC about this."
It was the council’s role, possibly in partnership with private enterprise, to provide off-street parking rather than Health New Zealand or NZTA, he said.
Councillors approved Cr Simms’ amendment instructing staff to advance discussions with developers on multi-level carparking.
An amendment from Cr Jules Radich requesting NZTA work with HNZ to "establish sufficient additional car parking in very close proximity to the new hospital" was also accepted by councillors.
Cr Marie Laufiso recorded a vote against both amendments.
Agency senior transport planner Anja McAlevey told councillors parking buildings were not in NZTA’s remit, although conversations were ongoing with HNZ on parking matters.
The agency would continue efforts to retain carparks as it developed a detailed design, she said.
HNZ was expected to provide 94 carparks at the hospital; about 40 were proposed to be pick-up, drop-off spaces.
The agency would seek $14 million in government funding for the roading changes, and a further $17m for other safety and efficiency work along State Highway 1, including improvement of the Pine Hill intersection.
Mayor Sophie Barker said she was told by HNZ a parking building had been proposed in 2022, and "the market said ‘no"’.
Feedback at the time was parking was not at capacity in the area and it did not make "business sense", Ms Barker said.
"But things have changed in three years, and ... the government changed in three years.
"So maybe [Cr Simms’ amendment] will help us focus on giving them very, very firm messages all of the time to sort the parking."
Cr Treadwell said he supported Cr Radich’s amendment in principle, although he did not consider it materially different from NZTA’s ongoing work to reduce parking loss.
He said he was concerned about pedestrian safety being traded-off — "any gains we are making at the cost of lives, I don’t think are tenable, personally".
Cr Doug Hall said he supported the NZTA proposals — the hospital was a once-in-a-lifetime, generational build.
"Change around State Highway 1 will affect traffic flow, emergency response, safety and general usability of the central city for decades."
An NZTA consultation summary document released last month found people largely agreed with safety improvements in the area, ahead of an expected increase to 10,000 daily pedestrian movements.
There was less support for associated changes, such as removing carparks, which some business owners felt "could threaten their viability".
Councillors voted 12-3 to support the proposed roading changes, Crs Russell Lund, Lee Vandervis and Brent Weatherall opposed the motion.
NZTA planned to complete a business case and apply for funding early next year, and construction was expected between 2027 and 2030.
