Concerns have already been raised about new parking restrictions for a busy area near two of the town’s biggest employers. 

The Wānaka Community Board (WCB) agreed to ban parking along the edge of Cardrona Valley Road from Orchard Road to the top of McDougall Street at the board’s meeting yesterday (Thursday September 23).

The restrictions also encompass a substantial residential area west from West Meadows Drive.

Wānaka Lakes Health Centre manager Heather McClintock told the Wānaka App after the meeting she was nervous about the decision and believes the council needs a parking strategy.

“To restrict parking on the outskirts of the parking areas on Cardrona Valley Road is going to impact on visitors and staff,” she said.

Parking opposite Basecamp will also be prohibited.

Concerns about parking were raised by the health centre with mayor Jim Boult more than a year ago, but no work had been done on the issue and Heather had only heard about the WCB agenda item late on Wednesday evening, she said.

“Ten years ago when the building was built we had sufficient parking for visitors and that of course was in the design process a few years prior to that. So the town has grown, we offer more services and we have a lot more people coming to visit the building.”

WCB member Ed Taylor put the blame for the increased pressure on parking firmly on Cardrona Alpine Resort/Treble Cone, saying that residents have been complaining about cars parked along West Meadows Road and Cardrona Valley Road since the skifield operations had moved into the Basecamp building in June.

Cars parked along Cardrona Valley Road.

“They’ve created the problem for the residents,” he said, adding the business should return to collecting staff to bus to the resorts from lower McDougall Street, where there is ample parking space.

Mark Gordon, a civil engineer (who previously managed the transport function for Christchurch City Council) and resident of neighbouring Mountain View Drive, wrote to councillor Niamh Shaw before the meeting to say the proposed restrictions were “overly restrictive and a blanket wide imposition to address what is probably only a very minor problem”.

He suggested all the council may need to do is ask the medical centre staff not to park on the verge opposite the centre, and ban the advertising of cars for sale on the roadside.

Given the existing bylaw prohibits people from stopping, standing or parking a motor vehicle on “that part of a road which is laid out as a lawn or cultivated area, including a grass plot, a flower bed or a shrubbery”, Mark said he doesn’t think the existing gravel shoulders on the roadside meet the criteria.

Councillor Quentin Smith said Cardrona Valley Road was one of Wānaka’s “most important arterial [roads]” and the most important thing was to “protect the function” of the road and the amenity of the neighbourhood, adding that using the reserve for parking would not be tenable in the future.

“So where are these cars going to go next winter?” Ed asked. 

WCB member Jude Battson and councillor Niamh Shaw both said as an entrance to Wānaka the area needs an overall plan.

QLDC roading operations and contracts manager Ben Greenwood said the existing bylaw already banned parking and council staff were “using the opportunity to formalise the restrictions”. 

The council could look at more changes to the environment, including “traffic calming” measures, he said. 

The board members also discussed whether or not the 40kph speed limit on that stretch of road was feasible, with Niamh saying the police had told her the speed limit was “almost impossible to enforce” and councillor Calum MacLeod saying the speed limit “makes absolute sense” in an area with “so much going on”. 

The board approved the parking restrictions, as well as ‘no stopping at all times’ at Sorrel Street, Albert Town; ‘no heavy vehicle’ signage installed at the entrance and exit to St Ninian’s Way, Hāwea Flat; and parking restrictions on Umbers Street, Wānaka. 

PHOTOS: Wānaka App