Cycleway issue moving forward
The controversial Island Bay cycleway is a step closer to resolution, with residents being assured the issue will be put to bed by September.
A three-week public consultation will start at the end of July looking at up to four options for the future configuration of The Parade.
Island Bay Residents’ Association president Vicki Greco told a meeting of the Wellington City Council’s city strategy committee yesterday that the 2000 verified residents in the association were looking forward to getting their lives back and putting the issue to rest.
About 87 per cent of residents wanted change, she said. ‘‘As a democracy, we will continue to push for what the majority of residents want. Remember, we are here today because democracy was thrown aside and the community was ignored.’’
She asked the council to have its contractors ready to go without delay, as soon as a decision was reached in September.
A working party of councillors is now set to to oversee the final engagement process and design options for the cycleway. They include retaining the current design or returning to the original design (both with improvements for pedestrians and local businesses).
The decision follows last year’s development of the Love the Bay syndicate project, which involved Cycle Aware Wellington (CAW), the residents’ association, local businesses and representatives from the council.
The project was tasked with gaining feedback to support the future development of The Parade, and also for a 10-year plan for Island Bay. Feedback closed in May.
The council recently prepared reports in relation to the Love the Bay process: The Global Research report was the quantitative analysis of the first three workshops, drop-in and online engagement; while the Empathy Design report was qualitative and took a social and cultural approach to seek the ‘‘why’’ people were feeling and desiring what they were.
Resident Stephanie Wenman, criticised the reports at the meeting as ‘‘not factual, unbiased and objective’’. She estimated the reports cost about $130,000.
‘‘I urge that information is reflective of the community. That’s how you get acceptance.’’
Tonkin & Taylor engineers and designers have started developing four final options for consultation. Once an option is determined by councillors, the detailed design will be undertaken.