More than 70 people are petitioning Tauranga City Council to change the location of a pedestrian refuge in Welcome Bay Road.

Petitioners say the refuge is causing problems for parents dropping their children off at Top Kids daycare at 166 Welcome Bay Road.

Welcome Bay residents will today petition council to remove a pedestrian refuge.

Jusdeen Philips, whose petition is to be presented to Tauranga City Council's Projects and Monitoring Committee later today, says she's had two near accidents trying to cross the median to enter the daycare.

The Meander Drive resident says she's tried indicating before the entrance and had a following driver attempt to pass. If she indicates and brakes late the following driver is then too close and she's had to speed up and miss the daycare entrance.

The petitioners want the refuge either removed completely or turned into a proper pedestrian crossing with signs and barriers to alert traffic. Tauranga City Council is also being asked to review the current 60km/h speed limit.

A report by council staff accompanying the petition recommends the refuge remain where it is.

A pedestrian crossing is not recommended for safety reasons, because of the 60km/h speed limit.

Council staff will be reviewing speed limits along various sections of Welcome Bay Road as part of Council's 2014 Speed Limit Review. If the speed limit is reduced to 50km/h as a result, the request for the formal crossing can be reviewed.

In other business today the committee is also receiving an end of year monitoring report from education Tauranga on the sister cities relationship with Hitachi, Japan, and Yantai, China.

There will also be a special report to the committee from Western BOP Police Area Commander Inspector Clifford Paxton.