Tomorrow the Mount Maunganui community is getting its chance to have a say on a proposal to turn a pay-and-display portion of Phoenix carpark into an urban space.
Tauranga City Council staff and councillors will be at Phoenix carpark on Sunday from 1pm to 5pm to hear what people have to say about the idea.
People are being invited to have their say about the usage of the Phoenix carpark in Mount Maunganui.
TCC strategic and corporate planning team leader Cheryl Steiner says the sale of part of the site to a developer was considered as part of a broader property portfolio review to assist in debt reduction.
'A proposal for redevelopment included commercial uses and provision of a public carparking building.
'The proposal did not fully achieve the original objective of debt reduction, and resulted in council taking a broader look at future options for development of the Phoenix carpark site.”
Another consideration is about $3.8 million of expenditure, funded from development contributions, is included in TCC's Long Term Plan 2012-2022 for reserve land purchase in the Mount Maunganui area.
Cheryl says as a large amount of the growth has occurred to the north, it's appropriate this expenditure be used in the north-Mount Maunganaui area.
'A developer suggested to council that one way to use the money would be to purchase the Phoenix carpark and turn it into an urban space.” Cheryl says council wants to know what the community thinks of this idea, before pursuing it further.
'In the last two weeks we have had two display days at the carpark and received useful feedback on the proposal from the community and local businesses.
'Some people feel it's important that the carparking remains, others think the urban space idea is the way to go; and they all have different thoughts about what that would look like.”
People who take the time to head down to the Phoenix carpark this Sunday and express their opinions also have the chance to win one of five $100 Mount Mainstreet vouchers.
People can also email their thoughts and photos to haveyoursay@tauranga.govt.nz or they can comment or post a photo on facebook https://www.facebook.com/TaurangaCityCouncil
4 comments
Think carefully
Posted on 01-03-2014 17:21 | By Accountable
We now have a great new bunch of Councillors but we still have the same old bunch of employees with the same old culture of believing they can do what they want particularly with these types of public consultations.You may think they are listening but they will have decided already on how they are going to influence the Councillors thinking.The proof of this is the issue of parking parity with many promises being made by Councillors only to have it thrown out by our employees. The other more glaring example is the removal of the Waterfont car parking in the CBD and promise of replacing that parking with equivalent parking in close proximity.The Council got their Waterfront but the public haven't got their parking and according to Council employees won't be getting anything for quite some time.In other words we were conned, so be careful and be observant.
Hmmm, confused!
Posted on 02-03-2014 00:46 | By Murray.Guy
'A developer suggested to council that one way to use the money would be to purchase the Phoenix carpark and turn it into an urban space.” .... An earlier report, I'm sure, quoted the developer as saying he was approached by Council staff? PS: Don't forget, the Council could also purchase existing land off itself (eg: next to Zespri) and rezone it reserve, reducing debt by $3million or so! Hopefully the mist will clear and folk will think with a clear head - the success of Bayfair, Frazer Cove and the like IS NOT down to 'green space and vibrancy', it's about the provision of convenient and free parking, all weather cover and a good variety of shops. This is Tauranga, NZ, not New York! When something doesn't smell right, you can bet something is rotten! The Mount CBD is surrounded by convenient green space & reserves under-utilised!
Leave it
Posted on 02-03-2014 07:22 | By marcus
Just leave it alone and turn it back to being free, these new council developments cost money and guess who ends up paying for it.... Slap a charge on it and watch bayfair grow and more empty shops on the mount main street just like tauranga's streets. Their is ample green space at either end of the street and a beach on both sides!
..
Posted on 03-03-2014 00:03 | By The Caveman
The so called "consultation" is a total farce. The decision has already been made. The "consultation" is actually 'this is what we are going to do” no matter what submissions we receive.
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to make a comment.