Business owners befuddled by ‘crazy’ garden replacing berm

Roadside plantings to beautify a busy Picton street have mystified business owners, who say a footpath would make more sense.

Natives are being planted along one side of Dublin St, replacing a grass berm that was used by pedestrians in lieu of a footpath. The other side of the road, bordering Waitohi Domain, has a footpath.

The plantings have raised eyebrows among business owners on Dublin St, whose staff and customers parked on the roadside and previously walked over the grass berm.

Picton Tools and Tyres owner Julian Cameron said there was a white line on the road to indicate space for roadside parking, but people would have to walk over the garden to get in the passenger’s side of a vehicle.

‘‘I know lots of people walk to work along there, walk to school.

‘‘People will just walk on the road instead. And that’s even before you start thinking about the disabled or people with prams.’’

Cameron said he had no problems with ‘‘tidying the place up’’.

‘‘But you’ve got to look at the whole picture. They could put a path down and still have room to plant beside it. I haven’t heard anybody say anything good about it yet.’’

Signs Now owner Craig Chapman said he was also surprised to find the grass outside his business replaced with a garden bed. ‘‘It needs a footpath, not a garden.’’

Chapman said in the busier half of the year he saw many pedestrians walk past at peak hours, at the start and end of the work day, and whenever a ferry arrived.

‘‘I think it’s a safety issue, for tourists as well as the general public,’’ Chapman said.

‘‘I don’t think whoever planned this knows how many people walk down Dublin St. It gets quite busy with people going both ways, and if there were footpaths on either side, that would improve the flow.’’

Beachcomber Cruises owner Tony Crapper said he thought the garden was ‘‘bloody crazy’’. He walked on the grass berm on occasion to get to a storage shed on an adjacent street.

‘‘The grass there was getting pretty long. But if people won’t mow the grass there, the council should just do it for them and then send them the bill; that’s what they do in Australia.’’

Keith Offord, who had a private workshop on Dublin St, said he walked on the grass berm ‘‘sometimes three times a day’’, popping down to ITM Picton.

‘‘We didn’t mind the grass, we never complained about it. But this is ridiculous. Now I’ve got to walk over the bark and cross the road, just to take 10 steps on the footpath only to cross the road again. They should just put some stepping stones in. It’s stupid,’’ Offord said.

‘‘And when you’re building a building, the first thing you’ve got to think about is wheelchair access. Well where’s the wheelchair access here?’’

Offord said he was also concerned about bark spilling into the gutter and nearby drain, which fed into a creek.

‘‘They need an edge around it, or something.’’

Jim’s Auto owner Jackie Swanson said she had complained to the Marlborough District

Council about the garden.

‘‘Our part [of the roadside] was nicely maintained. I don’t know why they had to do this, personally. They do have room for a pathway, they should have just concreted it over.

‘‘We get children walking through here to go to school, and when people with small children want to go into these businesses, how are they supposed to even get them out of the car?’’

A council spokesman said the aim of the planting was to beautify the industrial area, a main route from central Picton to the scenic Queen Charlotte Drive, two lookouts and the 42-kilometre Link Pathway.

‘‘Additionally, it was to help engender community pride, and encourage and or assist commercial property owners in a tangible way to care for their street frontage, where this appeared to be a challenge to them.’’

Improvements had started four years ago, with similar planting and landscaping on the Waitohi Domain side of the road. Adjoining property owners had been spoken to about the latest plantings and did not raise any access concerns, the spokesman said.

Staff would be reviewing car parking along Dublin St and would also monitor the bark, which was expected to settle, he said.

‘‘Where an unintended and unknown consequence may crop up, these can be navigated around and a solution found.’’