Despite growing concern amongst some Whakatāne retailers, the council is assuring the community there are no firm plans to remove the Kakahoroa Drive carpark.
Whakatāne District Council's Deb Ganley and Whakatāne Online Retailers page creator Jason Lougher, the two have been discussing the local retailers' response to the council's consultation document. Photo: Whakatāne Beacon / Troy Baker
For now, it wants the community to run wild with its ideas and leave thinking about the practicalities until later.
The Whakatāne District Council is consulting on its Te Ara Hou project - a $20 million-plus programme in partnership with Te Runanga o Ngati Awa that is funded by the Provincial Growth Fund and council investment, and will revitalise and connect the CBD with the river.
There is concern among retailers that the council is planning to remove the large Kakahoroa carpark, which provides all-day parking for staff and customers, to replace it with a large green space.
A plan for a large pedestrian walkway with community spaces through the Kakahoroa Drive carpark. Photo: Supplied
The creator of the Whakatāne Online Retailers Facebook page, Jason Lougher, said consultation on the project had been poor and it was not easy to make a submission as the process was confusing and daunting.
In response he has created his own submissions website, voiceofwhakatane.co.nz, which will launch on Friday. All submissions will be passed on to the council.
"When I had a look at making a submission myself, I found the questions were quite vague and I didn't think it was very transparent on what people were submitting on," he said.
"There's no detail. It's just 'hey, we have all this money, we've identified these areas as development areas', and that's about it. I just don't understand what they're trying to achieve, there's no indication of what could be done."
This plans shows a pedestrian friendly one-way Strand. Photo: Supplied
Part of the confusion is due to the council also consulting on its Innovative Streets project at the same time, which will see temporary measures put in place to make the CBD more pedestrian friendly.
If these measures are successful, they may be made permanent and learnings from this project may then inform the wider Te Ara Hou project.
Lougher said it was not immediately clear how the smaller project might influence the larger and people were distracted from Te Ara Hou project by the "pretty pictures" that had been created as part of the Innovative Streets project.
It was feedback received on his retailers' Facebook page that drove, Lougher and his team to create their own submissions website.
On Facebook, people have said they don't know what the council is proposing, the consultation is rushed and expressed concern about the loss of carparks. The comments have been grouped into discussion points for the website.
He said people would like to see funding put into improving shops, fixing the concrete, creating shorter term car parking, disabled and parental carparking, doing up amenities such as the toilets, and creating an "Eat Street" similar to Rotorua.
Community members submitted this design to the Whakatāne Online Retailers page for a Whakaari memorial bridge to take pedestrians from The Strand above the Kakahoroa Drive carpark and down to the river. Photo: Supplied
Lougher said council staff had been helpful and he could see commitment from the council and its communication team to engage with the community. But they seemed to lack the tools to do so effectively.
Council senior policy planner Deb Ganley said the council had no plans to do anything with the area until it had received feedback from the community.
"One option is not to touch the Kakahoroa carpark area at all, but we want people to think of the benefits of using the space - particularly the economic benefits," she said. "This is a prime, strategic piece of land."
Ganley said the council had no plans to reduce the total parking spaces but might reconfigure them and alternative parking spaces were already being considered.
She said the council was aware a lot of people drove into Whakatāne from rural places like Murupara and Tāneatua and they would continue to need somewhere to park.
"That is an issue for all provincial New Zealand that has a wide community with a rural economy positioned around a central hub," she said.
"What we would like is to get them to stay longer and do more, maybe stay for dinner or for a night market. It would be nice to focus people into town to make a focal point and realise its potential."
Ganley said if the parking lot were to be redeveloped, it might not be the entire parking lot and it was likely it would happen in stages. The council could then also provide alternative parking in stages.
However, she stresses that the council is really wanting the community's views before it takes the next step and creates any plans. These plans would then be open for consultation before a final design is reached.
"We would like people to think about how they would like Whakatāne to look in 30, 40, even 50 years from now and what we might need to grow and cultivate to ensure we still have a thriving CBD."
She would like to see feedback on how to improve the area for those on mobility scooters, cyclists, parents with children and older people.
She would like people to let their imaginations run wild knowing the council would take car parking into account.
"We do realise it's an issue and we will address it, but let's not get bogged down in that yet," she said.
"Let your imagination run wild for now, take away all those constraints you would normally see and think what could be. Let's enter that dream space first and worry about practicalities next. I'm confident the community will come up with some stellar ideas."
Local Democracy Reporting is a public interest news service supported by RNZ, the News Publishers' Association and NZ On Air.
