'There will be revolution': Nelson cycleway could remove 200 car parks

Potentially 200 car parks could be lost to make way for a cross-town cycleway, leaving Nelson’s elected members uneasy, but one cycling advocate reckons the concerns are overblown.

By Max Frethey of Local Democracy Reporting

The planned East-West Cycleway was discussed at a Nelson City Council workshop on Wednesday and council officers detailed their recommended route.

Linking Waimea and Maitai Valley Roads, the cycleway aims to be a thoroughfare for students of half a dozen learning centres while providing a vital cycling link between Nelson's east and west.

The suggested new route floated by officers differed to an initial proposal put out for consultation primarily by shifting the cycleway off Collingwood Street, due to safety concerns regarding the speed and volume of traffic, and onto Trafalgar Street South.

When asked for feedback on the refined route, the loss of car parking was a key concern for elected members.

No detailed design has been completed yet as the route is not finalised, but the current concept would see a patchwork cycleway, with each section sporting a different design based on the characteristics of each site.

But despite the bespoke solutions for each section, about 55% – or around 208 of 384 – car parks would be lost along the route put forward by staff if the “highest standard” of cycleway was pursued.

Angle parks on Nile Street west of Collingwood Street would be retained, but those east of Collingwood Street would be roughly halved in number once they were converted to parallel parks, while the uphill half of Trafalgar Street South would also lose its parking.

Councillor Mel Courtney said the parks on eastern Nile Street – around the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, Nelson Central School, new apartment developments, and hospitality businesses – were highly utilised by residents.

"I'm 100% for an east-west cycleway, because the community is telling us that it’s the last link in the chain, but… there will be a revolution," he warned.

"I am very concerned about that area."

Councillor Sarah Kerby was “highly supportive” of the cycleway, which presented “an opportunity for wider school safety and transport behaviour campaigns across the city”, but similarly said the scale of parking loss could amount to “political suicide”.

Mayor Nick Smith has the personal view that there should be no net loss of parking in the central city to buoy its revitalisation.

“I think that also needs to apply around that parking around Central School and around the polytechnic, it’s a real pressure point, and I think we have to do some exploration there.”

The steepness of the route, such as along Trafalgar Street South, was also a concern for many councillors, such as Aaron Stallard.

“The thing that does kill off participation or use of cycle trails is gradient. If people have to get off their bike, for example,” he said.

“If there was a flat option, then to me, potentially there’d be much more use.”

Councillor Matty Anderson agreed.

"If there’s an easier way for… like, a boy on a bike to go, that’s the way he’s going to go. I do feel that steep hills – kids will find a reason to find another way around."

Deputy mayor Pete Rainey suggested the council consider the alternative route proposal put forward by local sustainable transport advocacy group Nelsust.

That route would largely stick to Waimea Road, and Rutherford and Nile Streets rather than cutting through residential neighbourhoods.

"That would allow the cyclists to fly into the city… it's definitely a lower grade, it’s a flatter route, it's a more direct route… and I'm thinking that potentially there’s less car park-loss."

Smith directed staff to consider the Nelsust option, weighed against budgetary and physical practicality, and requested further information about parking, steepness, and tree loss for elected members to discuss further before a route is confirmed, and to undertake more targeted consultation if it was deemed necessary.

"It is just such a big issue that we want to get right."

Nelsust member Kate Malcolm watched the workshop from the public gallery and was "encouraged" that the council would look at its proposal.

However, she was disappointed by some of the discussion.

"People seem to be more concerned about parking than I felt they should have been, because after all, if you’re not able to park there, you may well get on your bike," she said.

"The question is, do they really want people on bikes or do they want people still doing the same as they’ve always done, and I can’t see the leadership coming from that group, no leadership urging people to get on their bikes, forget about their cars, and adopt a different way of living."

Local Democracy Reporting is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.