Drivers lose parking in city

Intensification in Auckland is squeezing out carparks in some apartment blocks

About 800 more cars are on Auckland roads every week but city apartments are rising with fewer car parks. One new block has none. In a significant departure from tradition, parks are being restricted, squeezed into stackers or eliminated, causing angst among some city or fringe area residents.

“Everyone parks in our street now,” complained a Grey Lynn woman. “There’s not a single park for us and to make it worse, new blocks are going up without a single car park, which squeezes us more.”

Vehicle numbers are ballooning. NZ Transport Agency said 43,000 extra vehicles were added to Auckland’s roads in the year to March 2016.

And given Auckland’s Unitary Plan removes requirements for parking in many areas, fewer car spaces will be developed across New Zealand’s biggest city.

Previously, most apartments had one car park per unit. Smaller, cheaper places were sold with no parks but expensive penthouses often came with two or more. An Auckland Council spokeswoman said fewer car parks supported intensification and public transport.

Daisy, under construction by Ockham Residential on the fringe of the central business district, does not have any private car parking space for residents. Instead, its two car parks are for communal eco-friendly cars. It has 40 bicycle and 15 scooter parks.

Mark Todd, an Ockham founder, is proud Daisy will have no private car parks and said providing them would add to congestion.

Apartment buyers made lifestyle choices, often eliminating cars. “I love no car parking requirements in residential buildings. There are maximum limits on car parking provisions but no minimum now. You don’t have to build one single car park in mixeduse and terraced housing zones or in the CBD,” Todd said.

“I’ve never built anything without car parks before. Most [developments] have one car park per unit,” he said, adding he is planning other projects with restricted parking.

Patrick Reynolds and Matt Lowrie of transport and urban lobby group Greater Auckland, lauded Auckland Transport moves to cut on-street parking to shortterm, with measures such as extensive landscaping in Wynyard Quarter.

Lowrie said: “The big trend we’ve been seeing is a decoupling of parking from apartments, so if you are buying off the plans, it doesn’t automatically come with a car park.”