The growing pains of expansion
Town planners are confident a busy city precinct can accommodate the arrival of more than 200 extra workers, despite complaints there is already a shortage of car parks.
The impending migration of Inland Revenue into a new office building on Victoria Ave in Palmerston North in September has neighbouring businesses concerned there won’t be enough parking left for customers and clinic patients.
Palmerston North City Council city planner David Murphy said it was part of the emerging tension between commuter and short-term parking the city was experiencing as it expanded.
The council believed the precinct around Victoria Ave and Broadway Ave could handle the extra workers, but he said another four or five similar-sized offices opening nearby could lead to serious congestion.
Under the council’s District Plan, offices in the outer business zone are required to have one car park for every 43 square metres of floor area.
For the new Victoria Ave building that would require 117 parks, however MWRC Holdings’ project spokesman Craig Grant told Stuff it would have 100 car parks.
In this case, it got a pass based on the availability of public transport, with two bus stops within 400 metres, and a traffic impact assessment provided with the consent application.
It found there were regularly at least 40 spaces available near Victoria Ave at peak parking demand around noon, when there was no construction work under way.
Murphy said such shortfalls weren’t uncommon, and whether consents would be granted was assessed on a case-by-case basis.
‘‘[However] the council is assessing whether or not we’re allowing too much office activity in the outer business zone.’’
The council would prefer to keep the bulk of Palmerston North’s offices within the CBD. But the area had no on-site parking requirements, so most companies preferred outer business zone offices where they were guaranteed some staff parking.
Murphy said they were looking at options for council-owned land to help ease parking pressure, potentially including dedicated commuter parking buildings – which were common in larger cities.
The council was also building up the city’s public transport, and encouraging more residents to walk or cycle to work.
Murphy said Broadway Ave was the main hot spot for parking demand in the outer business zone.
Catherine Baker, who works at Roses Unichem Pharmacy, on the corner of Broadway Ave and Albert St, said parking was a nightmare.
‘‘I’ve had more than a few parking tickets since I started working here, and so have all of our staff.’’
She knew of only three all-day parks in the area, and they would be snared early each morning.
Baker said moving her car every two hours was unrealistic while she was at work, so she just had to take the tickets on the chin, and estimated she had paid hundreds of dollars in fines over the past three years.
Even when she tried to move her car, there usually wasn’t another park available, unless another worker was also trying to move to avoid a ticket, she said.
‘‘Between Countdown, New World, us and the other [businesses] around here, most of the parks are taken up by staff. It doesn’t leave much space for customers or anyone else.’’
Mcrae Podiatry owner Lorraine Mcrae said parking was just as dire around her Grey St clinic.
‘‘The street is just lined with workers parking their cars and walking the rest of the way to their work. I have noticed Sydney, Vivian, and Martin streets are also full of cars parking there all day.’’