About 150 previously free car parking spaces could become paid ones - but with existing time restrictions axed - as part of a Dunedin parking shake-up.
The changes, if approved, would result in about 100 previously free car parks switched to $1 or $2 an hour metered parks in the one-way parts of Great King and Cumberland Sts, between Albany and Dundas Sts.
Time restrictions for the previously free parks would be dropped, meaning motorists could pay up to $18 to stay all day.
Similar changes were suggested for Vogel St, where about 50 existing free, P5, P30, P60 and P90 spaces would be replaced with $1 per hour meters.
Council transport group manager Richard Saunders said the changes were the first responses to the results of public consultation on the city's parking system earlier this year.
A public survey in May had prompted about 800 responses and identified the turnover of parking spaces around the central city and university, as well as pricing and time restrictions, as key issues.
Mr Saunders said the changes on the one-way network effectively extended paid parking about three blocks north to include the area around North Ground, in particular.
The aim was to encourage turnover in the parking spaces, while also giving motorists the flexibility to stay all day, if visiting Dunedin Hospital, Otago Museum or the University of Otago.
In Vogel St, the increasing pace of redevelopment meant parking arrangements needed to change, it said.
Free, time-restricted parks were ineffective at promoting turnover, as some people opted to "game'' the system by moving their cars from one space to the next.
Other changes would result in yellow no-parking lines extended on Buccleugh St, in Northeast Valley, to stop cars being parked dangerously.
There would also be further changes to parking on Moray Pl either side of Great King St, associated with the city's new bus hub.
Parking arrangements would also be tweaked outside Fairfield School, including a new pick-up/drop-off zone for parents, to improve pedestrian safety.
Councillors at today's full council meeting would decide whether to endorse the proposals for public consultation.
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Comments
The shake down continues. Does not the DCC understand one of the main reasons people have stopped going to the CBD areas for shopping is that parks are few and diminishing in number, and getting more expensive? That is one of the reasons why our traditional retail areas are dying in favour of big box stores with free parking.
Kachinga
How often does a council get audited? I seriously think something is wrong with the Council and they are clutching at straws, and always coming up with new ways to get coin from people, call it what you want they are rouges.
And the whining begins. What is this sense of entitlement that makes people think the Council owes them a place to put their vehicles? You bought the car? YOU find a place to put it.