Church Corner decision going to council
A decision to install pedestrian crossings on a busy Upper Riccarton intersection will be going to the full council for a final vote, as the community board responsible failed to make a decision.
In a tense meeting of the Waipuna Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton Community Board, elected members agreed to reconsider safety upgrades at Church Corner, but only after new designs are considered by staff.
Although last night’s meeting was specifically held to consider city councillor Tyla Harrison-Hunt’s request to reverse a February (then March) vote to reject staff recommended safety improvements, he changed the wording last minute.
He told colleagues his judgment had become clouded by his passion on this particular issue, and proposed a compromise. He opened up about how exhausted he was, juggling 60-hour weeks and an unwell wife.
The board ultimately agreed to revoke the February decision and agreed to ask council staff to consider new road layouts. It voted 5:4 in favour of letting the city council at large have the final say.
Helen Broughton, who is chairperson of the board and previously voted against safety improvements, supported the move to send the final vote to council.
“I think it’s too difficult for this board actually. Its become too hard,” she told colleagues during a break in debate.
However, four of the nine members believed they were the best people to make a decision, saying they were more connected to their communities.
Sarah Brunton was among them, though she visibly struggled to decide how to vote. She asked for her vote to be cast last. She voted against revoking the February decision to reject the safety improvements (though the decision passed without her), despite voting alongside Harrison-Hunt in March.
The latest decision comes nearly two months after the board first rejected a staff recommended layout that would install pedestrian crossings but stop drivers from turning right onto Riccarton Rd from Main South Rd.
Members like Hornby ward councillor Mark Peters opposed it, saying it could cause “traffic chaos”.
The decision returned to the community board in March, but there was a stalemate. Harrison-Hunt, who represents the Riccarton ward, called for a re-do.
Peters (who has designed his own preferred layout of the road and wants the council to consider it) supported the idea of council staff coming up with new ideas, but said he could not support the final decision being taken away from the community board. “If needs another extraordinary meeting for a final decision, I think that’ll be democracy in full action.”
The meeting was disrupted several times by the last-minute change and members being confused. In the beginning, Debbie Mora tried and failed to get the whole debate struck out, as she considered it undemocratic for the board to revisit a decision that had already been made.
Later, councillor Andrei Moore called her out for hypocrisy, saying Mora had a pending request to revoke a decision made last year on a different matter.