Wellington City councillors have voted to paint 36 metres of broken yellow lines along a stretch of a narrow Karaka Bays street, in the latest chapter of warring neighbours saga.
By Justin Wong of Local Democracy Reporting
The council's Regulatory Processes Committee recently agreed unanimously to restrict vehicles stopping on one side of Fortification Rd, as two residents accused a neighbour of orchestrating the change over a personal vendetta.
Just days before the meeting, police were called to a dispute on the street where one person was allegedly assaulted. A police spokesperson confirmed to The Post a 63-year-old man was arrested and charged with common assault.
Apart from a section footpath across a garage where there are yellow lines, motorists can park on both sides on the section of road at the centre of the row. But a group of 27 residents signed a form petitioning the council to change it, saying a vehicle was parking in a way that blocked large vehicles, including emergency services.
Council officials proposed yellow lines for safety and accessibility reasons. During a site visit they discovered the road width, at between 5.1m and 5.7m, was too narrow for parking on both sides while allowing enough room for large vehicles to navigate through.
Standard operating procedure is that a road must be at least 6.9m wide to "sufficiently" afford enough space to pass through while still have vehicles parked on both sides.
Julian Bishop and Catherine Bagnall, the owners of Britten House – a heritage-listed property that would lose on-street parking under the restrictions – were against the change. The house was built in 1973 and designed by modernist architect Roger Walker.
The couple claimed the petition for yellow lines was a "one-person crusade" by a neighbour. They also said having yellow lines would encourage drivers to speed down the road, making it unsafe for them to load and unload items at their house.
But Adrien Rollet, one of the residents who signed the petition for yellow lines, told councillors vehicles like rubbish trucks had struggled to pass through the road and it had become a genuine safety concern.
"Residents are not asking for convenience and preferential treatment," he said. "They are asking for practical safety measure that reflect the physical reality of the road layout."
A submission from last July’s public consultation echoed the same points. The issue was due to be decided on at a meeting last August but councillors delayed it for officials to work with local councillors for more public engagement.
– Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
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