Three events managers and five business operators attended the monthly board meeting yesterday to explain their cases.
The October Wanakafest, managed by Laurel Morrison, and the Challenge Wanaka triathlon in January, directed by Victoria Murray-Orr, were discussed at length.
Another event co-ordinator, Katy Macpherson, also signalled road closures during the finale of the Goldfields Cavalcade in February, but that item was not on the agenda.
Deputy board chairman Ken Copland championed the business charge against road closures.
A sports event "did not qualify" as a good reason to close a town centre and the closures were an "imposition on business", Mr Copland said.
Real estate agent Noel Williams, pharmacist Aaron Heath, restaurateur Pete Scott, tourism operator Mark Ayres and supermarket operator James Backhouse spoke during the public forum about their loss of earnings from previous years during Challenge Wanaka and Wanakafest.
They believed road closures for events discouraged people from parking in town and patronising their businesses.
Mr Williams said he particularly noticed people stayed away on January 16, when roads were closed for Triathlon New Zealand's Contact Cup race around the central business district.
"On that Friday, we could have had tumbleweed blowing down the street," Mr Williams said.
Suggestions the businessmen made included: changing the Contact Cup route, changing the dates of Challenge Wanaka so it fell outside the peak summer holiday period, consulting more with affected businesses and not putting cones on car parking spaces in Ardmore St.
Mrs Murray-Orr said she had an open-door policy, had sought a response from businesses and then made changes to the Challenge Wanaka traffic management plan as a result of that response. She had intended to talk to affected parties again next month.
She acknowledged not many people went into town during the Contact Cup on January 16. "But I think we all know what the weather was like on that day. People have mentioned tumbleweed. Well, there was thunder and torrential rainstorms. That might have had something to do with it."
Mrs Murray-Orr agreed the Contact Cup route could be reassessed this year and improvements made to marshalling and access to the central business district.
The cones in Ardmore St were a safety measure to stop motorists hitting cyclists and were in the traffic management plan, she said.
Ms Morrison said a council report on the Wanakafest road closures had a date wrong.
She had applied for Ardmore St closures from 5pm to 7pm Friday, October 16, for the festival parade and again on Saturday, October 17, from 1.15pm to 4.30pm, for an urban downhill mountain bike race.
Ms Morrison agreed the race could start at 2pm.
All board members acknowledged the difficult balance between keeping businesses happy and hosting events that boosted Wanaka's image. They also noted the lack of response from businesses to advertisements on road closures.
The board agreed to support both festivals but imposed an obligation on organisers to consult again with affected businesses, "to the satisfaction of the board chairman".
