Mobile traders operating next to Otago Museum could be granted longer trading hours after the institution softened its earlier opposition to the move.
The Dunedin City Council's hearings committee yesterday signalled a move to longer hours - subject to final approval - after considering submissions on five proposed leases to use the Museum Reserve.
The leases would grant five operators the right to use one additional space near the Albany St edge of the reserve on one day each per week.
With one mobile trader already operating in the area on weekdays, on an adjacent site, the change would mean two traders could operate in the area at any given time on weekdays.
Council staff had suggested their hours of operation be restricted to between 9am and 5pm on weekdays, but at yesterday's hearing agreed that could be extended to 9pm.
The leases would also be tweaked to allow more than one mobile trader to use the site at different times each day.
The changes came after Otago Museum commercial director Murray Bayly told the hearing the museum board was not opposed to mobile traders in the area.
The museum's trust board had made submissions in opposition to the leases, arguing the proposal was inconsistent with the council's own reserves management plan.
It also worried about a lack of detail in the leases, mobile traders being unfairly advantaged, safety issues with jaywalkers, the queuing of customers, and the impact on the museum's heritage values.
However, addressing yesterday's hearing, Mr Bayly said that did not mean the museum opposed mobile traders.
''It comes across like we are anti-mobile traders. We're not,'' Mr Bayly said.
The museum's cafe was not in direct competition with the traders, who attracted more people to the area, some of whom also visited the cafe to buy coffee, he said.
''We actually make money off them,'' Mr Bayly said of the mobile traders.
The museum board was concerned about potential problems, but those could be addressed if the sites used by the traders and the leases they signed were respectively equipped or drawn up to avoid such issues, he said.
Council staff told the hearing protective matting would be used to protect grass beside the mobile trading sites, while lease conditions would prohibit vehicles from driving across grass in the area.
Mr Bayly supported the moves, saying the condition of the reserve was an important part of the city's image.
''To me, this space should be the best space in Dunedin,'' he said.
Kim Morgan, a mobile trader and chairwoman of the Dunedin Mobile Traders Association, told the hearing she supported the proposals.
Mobile traders did not want to see the reserve damaged and took their responsibilities ''very, very seriously'', she said.
''We are really trying to be caretakers of the space in our own way,'' she said.
The hearing closed following brief deliberations yesterday.
Committee members planned to conduct a site visit, and approve a final version of the lease by email, before issuing a written decision.
• In their report to the hearing, council staff suggested Wurst on the Run would be an example of one of the food businesses that could use the Museum Reserve site for mobile trading.
Co-owner Miles Peterson advises Wurst on the Run is a fixed premises and has no plans to use the reserve site.
