Modern suburb but no car parks

Garages being used for storage and a lack of street parking are causing residents to park illegally in a new West Auckland suburb.

Auckland Transport (AT) issued four tickets to car owners parked over driveways and encroaching on to the footpath in a Hobsonville Point street on September 27.

The tickets were issued at around 12.30am, prompted by a request for a call-out by locals, AT’s Mark Hannan said.

A resident, who didn’t want to be named, said locals - herself included - regularly parked over their driveways, due to lack of garage space, street parking, and fear of break-ins.

She and her sister both have SUV cars which don’t fit the garage, and some of it is being used for storage.

She said the narrowness of the street was also an issue and caused people to park half on the curb.

Although the Point was planned as a walking suburb with public transport, it did not accommodate the way residents currently lived, she said.

Resident Cher Aspden agreed there was a ‘‘serious parking problem’’, and said the area could lose some of the grass verges to make parking more practical.

In July, the Hobsonville Point Residents’ Society stated in their news that carparking was a ‘‘recurring issue’’ voiced by HPRS members to the committee.

It said it was assumed residents would use garages or carports, but a tour of local streets showed this was not the case.

Another resident Dana Gamby-Hull said people needed to do their research on parking before deciding to move into a property. She and her husband had measured to make sure their two vehicles - including a van - fit into their double garage before buying.

During the past six months, there have been eight infringements issued at the Point, including the four vehicles parked on Isitt St for footpath offences.

Hannan said all callouts to the Point had been at the requests of local residents.

It is illegal to park on the footpath or in a cycle lane.

HLC manager master planning and design Hayley Fitchett said while every precinct has a maximum number of parks allocated per house, every home has at least one one carpark.

Street planting plays an ecological function, acting as a bioswale to treat the water run-off from roads, she said.

Feedback around on-street carparks was being addressed for future streets. HPRS is calling for residents to contact them with suggestions to address the parking.