A workshop on Monday evening (December 4) on the council’s plans for a parking strategy was constructive and well attended by Wānaka town centre property and business owners.

Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) has created a draft parking strategy to provide principles to guide decisions on how parking is allocated and prioritised.

The strategy will include guidelines on how parking will be managed, and tailored parking management plans to address existing issues within defined areas and town centres, both of which will include future community consultation.

Read more: QLDC asks for community input on parking strategy

Wānaka Upper Clutha Community Board chair Simon Telfer said Monday’s workshop looked at why the strategy was needed, rather than the “where and how”.

Simon said there were a lot of property owners at the workshop, making it “less a community meeting and more a key stakeholder meeting”. 

“They asked some really poignant questions, challenged and listened.”

The current parking arrangements are “not working for the community all the time’’, Simon said.

“Town is changing, the population is doubling in size, we’ve got a second retail centre at Three Parks.”

He said these factors were changing what the town centre is for, and how people access it, and “parking is just a functional aspect of that”.

While there will “always be refinement” of the town centre, he said.

“You can’t take the lake away from the town.

“People come to town because it’s beautiful, it’s central, it’s connected to the lake. We need to leverage what makes it so special - its connection to the lake.”

Wānaka town centre Property Owners’ Group committee member Kevin King also found the workshop constructive.

He said there is “a lot of very common ground” within the property owners’ group, and they acknowledge the CBD requires constant upgrades and improvements.

An important crucial factor is that there is still about 60 percent more building infill to take place in the town centre, Kevin said.

“[So] in the CBD we need all the parking we have at present, plus more. It’s not rocket science, it’s just a fact.”

A parking building was the “logical remedy long term”, he said,

Kevin said while Three Parks was being developed there would be “soft spots for the CBD”.

There is a great deal of investment going into Three Parks, and some uncertainty for CBD property and business owners, he said, but he believes “the CBD is always going to be a focal point”.

Feedback on QLDC’s draft Parking Strategy can be shared on QLDC’s Let’s Talk website up until January 28, 2024.

PHOTO: Supplied