Top brass compose car park plan
‘‘We’ll lease out most of the spaces to a local business needing the parking, and leave enough spaces empty for dance class drop-offs. It should work well.’’ Kevin Moseley, Marlborough District Brass Band musical director
Brass band musicians are orchestrating a sharp plan to solve parking woes and raise extra dosh for their community activities.
Hundreds of young people use the Marlborough District Brass Band building, in Blenheim, for dance classes as well as the band rehearsals, but parents struggle to find space to drop their kids off, some as young as 5-years-old.
The musos hope they’ve hit a sweet note, discovering the land lease their building sits on includes 17 prime parking spaces currently used by members of the public for free on a first-come basis.
‘‘We own the building and lease the land it sits on from the council. We didn’t realise the parking spaces were under our control through the lease,’’ musical direc- tor Kevin Moseley said.
Moseley checked the legality of the band as leaseholders taking income from the 17 car parks next to their building at Auckland St. Their lease with the council allowed the tenant to sub-let to community groups, organisations and individuals subject to the council being told who was using the land.
The operational aspects of administration, maintenance, signage, line marking and enforcement would be the responsibility of the tenant with no council involvement.
Moseley said the car parks were occupied from 8am to 5pm every week day by members of the public. He said neighbouring businesses agreed vehicle numbers parking on the land had increased due to recent commercial developments on the edge of the central business district. The businesses supported the band’s plans for the parking spaces.
The band was the only New Zealand troupe chosen to play at the Shanghai International Music Festival this year and does dozens of public performances locally, with six major events in the past two weeks alone.
Moseley said any extra funds they could find helped keep the 57-strong lineup on the road and in keeping the building maintained and available to other users.
‘‘Dance classes at the band’s building involve hundreds of youngsters - some of the groups have up to 400 members.
‘‘Parents trying to drop their kids off have a terrible time, dropping the kids up the road and picking them up in traffic with the parking spaces always choked up,’’ he said.
‘‘We need to make it safer and easier for them, and we have the chance to make a bit of money for the band. We’ll lease out most of the spaces to a local business needing the parking, and leave enough spaces empty for dance class drop-offs. It should work well.’’
Moseley estimated the parking could be worth as much as $15,000 each year at about $10 per day for the spaces.
The band paid a peppercorn $1 a year (plus GST) for the land, and the council paid the land and building rates ($1686) and insurance ($5052). The 21-year lease term began in 2000 and had one right of renewal.
The band was waiting for the council to agree to the proposal.