There have been a lot of comments circulating on social media since the concept designs for the Village upgrade were announced last week about the removal of parking spaces in Island Bay Village. To help clarify:
The Island Bay Village Public Space Upgrade project, run by Brennan Baxley and his team, relates to improvements/upgrades on the pavement area and includes things like benches, planting, features, way-finding and information displays.
The Traffic resolutions TR 98-22 and TR 178-22 relate to parking along the parade and are separate from the Island Bay Village upgrade, although of course intimately linked in terms of the bigger picture.
TR178-22 proposes to convert all angled parking spaces to parallel parking – on both the eastern and western sides of The Parade.
All angled parking on the western side of the town centre (between Avon and Medway Streets) are P60 time-restricted. The reduction in spaces is made up in Medway and Avon Streets by converting unrestricted parking spaces to time-restricted parking.
The angled parking on the eastern side (by Avon Street) currently has no time restriction. As part of TR178-22, these will be converted to parallel parking and a P60 time-restriction added to it.
The rest of the parallel parking spaces on the eastern side will be retained. However, there will be a change to the layout due to the new bike lane and bus stop improvements.
The Council’s Transport Projects website shows before and after concept plans which can help visualise the changes being proposed: Current vs new layout | The Parade – WCC Transport Projects
The Island Bay Village Upgrade full concept plans (which can be confirmed once TR 98 and 178 have been decided on the 14th) will be available to view on the 17th of December 10am-2pm at the community centre, or online.
The Regulatory Processes Committee will meet on Wednesday 14 December 2022 to consider the related traffic changes (TR98 and 178) for this area and to decide whether the project can proceed to detailed design and construction. Anyone can attend this meeting, however if you wish to speak you must register by 1200 on the 13th December (day prior).
If approved, construction work is expected to begin in about August next year. Work near Mersey Street is expected to happen in 2024.
You can provide feedback to WCC:
Urban Design: Public Space Design + Delivery Team
Email: psd.islandbay@wcc.govt.nz
For specific queries on the parking, traffic resolution and safety improvements on The Parade, contact the project email, theparade@wcc.govt.nz
Island Bay Residents' Association 