The purpose of the 20/20 Plan is to enhance the central business district and attract people and businesses.  What if the cost of parking was to double!?  Surely it would drive people away.

That is entirely possible if one option considered by Whangarei District Council is adopted.  An Information Memorandum regarding the Vine Street site recommends purchase or lease of council owned land to developers.  The reason for such consideration is that at $20-30,000 per parking space the cost to the city would be considerable. 

At a recent meeting of the WDC it was resolved: “That council indicates in the Vine Street IM (Info Memo) that it will not compete for car parking and undertake to manage the CBD car parking time limits and charges at a level that is economic for the provision of a privately financed car parking building, subject to the reasonableness of those requirements.” In effect the city says it will allow developers to charge whatever is necessary for parking for them to make a “reasonable” profit, and that city owned parking will charge the same thing so as to not to compete.  This is tantamount to price fixing and at a level that will likely double the cost of all parking in the CBD.

There are alternatives: why can’t the city do what the developers could do?  But before borrowing even more money to build the multi-story parking facility on Vine Street, shouldn’t the city look at the possibility of selling off other, non-paying assets (such as Blue Goose or Kaituna Block) to raise the equity to fund the parking structure?

Clearly much more thought needs to be given to the Parking Puzzle before making an irrevocable mistake that will further tax the economic capabilities of our citizens.  We must not let the “quest” to fulfill the 20/20 Vision further undermine the current and future quality of life for the majority of our citizens.