A Rotorua shop owner fears new city centre parking rules coming into effect today could hurt his business.
By Mathew Nash of Local Democracry Reporting
Rotorua Lakes Council’s overhaul includes having two paid parking zones in the CBD and areas only available to people who buy permits for all-day parking.
The council says the changes are in response to public feedback, and that only two businesses have complained.
One was James Kim, who owns the Korean Mart on the corner of Hinemoa and Hinemaru Sts.
From today, the parks closest to his grocery business will be permit-parking only.
He said he was concerned that people parking all day would leave few available spaces for customers wanting to make quick purchases.
"About half of our customers are buying drinks or snacks," he said. "They can park quickly, grab a drink and leave. We also get a lot of tradies coming in."
He said permit parking could encourage people to park there all day.
"It'll affect us and the businesses around us."
The permit parking areas have been introduced on the fringes of the CBD for long-stay parking.
The CBD also has two simplified paid parking zones, and maximum time limits have been removed from paid parking spaces. Free parking has largely shifted to the outer edges of the CBD.
New payment technology, including licence plate recognition, virtual parking meters and the PayStay app would also be introduced.
Kim said the old parking system worked reasonably well for his business.
He said that other than in the morning, when most parks outside his business were occupied by students of the nearby language school, spaces were usually free.
"After 12pm they leave, so we always have spaces for customers who just want to stop for five minutes or even a minute to get a drink," Kim said.
Kim said he emailed the council about his concerns but was told no immediate changes will be made.
"The parking rules should be helping business owners, but this isn’t helping at all. It’s going to make things really, really hard for us."
He said even one or two short-term parking spaces outside the shop would make a significant difference.
"If customers start going somewhere else, they won't come back. It's very hard to win them back."
Rotorua Lakes Council destination development manager Jean-Paul Gaston said the council received Kim’s initial complaint on June 10 and had responded to his concerns.
Gaston said the permit parking areas were intended to cater for long-stay parking and that the spaces near Kim’s business were already a mix of unrestricted all-day parking and three-hour parking.
"There are no short-stay parks in the immediate vicinity," he said.
Gaston said council observations on a recent site visit suggested both the unrestricted and three-hour parks were already at full capacity.
He said the remainder of Hinemoa St would continue to operate as paid parking at $2 an hour for the first three hours. A 10-minute grace period for on-street parking would remain to allow quick pick-ups.
Kim said the grace period would do little good if no spaces were available.
"This is the closest [permit parking] area to the inner city, so I'm sure people will park here first," he said.
The council said feedback during public consultation earlier this year showed demand for more affordable all-day parking options for people working in the city centre.
While it had received a range of feedback about the new parking system overall, Gaston said only two businesses had recently raised concerns specifically about the permit parking areas.
He said the council was prepared to review the system once it had been operating for a period.
"This is just a starting point," Gaston said. "Further refinements may be considered once users have had time to adapt to the changes and sufficient data is available to identify trends and demand."
Inner-city workers previously expressed concerns over the cost of permit parking.
Some 823 spaces now require a permit, including some previously free parks along Queens Drive, Hinemaru St and Kuirau Park.
Parking permits cost $12 per day, $25 per fortnight, $50 per month or $130 for three months, applying Monday to Friday between 9am and 3pm.
There would be 653 free parks on the outer fringes, including parts of Lake Rd, Hinemaru St, Whakatau St, Pukuatua St, Eruera St, Hinemoa St and Hatupatu Drive.
The council said it would continue to monitor the area around Kim’s business over the coming months and stay in contact with him.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, including the stars handed out to restaurants across the country and another thrilling FIFA world cup game. (Source: 1News)
SHARE ME