2011-2012 Annual Report - Full Version - PDF - Palmerston North ...

Major issues relating to Roading andParking Activity include:Bus Terminal - The existing Main Street site wasadopted for development to accommodate bothurban and inter-regional services. Consultationand design work was to be undertaken this yearbut a number of concerns were raised during thepublic consultation phase, firstly by the retailersmainly concerned with the loss of car parks,noise and the loss of visual amenity and morerecently by the wider community on a range ofissues. This has required the need to seek furthersubmissions from those businesses and residentswishing to challenge the earlier decisions ofCouncil. Horizons Regional Council, who managesthe urban bus service contract, has indicated thatthey are to undertake a “first principles” review ofthe existing service and the City Council has nowdecided to await the outcome of that review beforecommitting to the construction of a Main Streetsite. This has been scheduled for the 2014/15 year.Strategic Roading and Bridging - Theprogramme and funding of a second bridge overthe Manawatū River were withdrawn from the next10 Year Plan as Council envisages that the trafficlevel increase required to meet NZTA fundingguidelines would be beyond the 10 year periodcovered. The implications of this will need furtherdeliberation by Council and discussion with otheraffected organisations.Parking - The economic downturn has resultedin low occupancy of the City’s parking networkwith revenue budgets not being met. The bayparking sensor technology installed last yearinitially generated huge customer resistance withthe community struggling to use the new systemand a high number of complaints eventuating,as evidenced in a poor performance figure inthe annual Communitrak survey. The changeto alphanumeric keypads has gone some way toaddressing these concerns. Being new technologyunder development in the City, there are still anumber of user concerns that are continuing tosee the technology not being fully supportedresulting in a large number of infringementnotice waiver requests and demands on staff. Itis hoped that these can be addressed in the nearfuture. The introduction of the SuperGold cardparking exemptions for the “over 65’s” continuesto be popular with 768 being issued in the first sixmonths of the calendar year. This scheme allowsfree parking from Monday and Friday between thehours of 9.00am to 11.00am.Challenges facing the Roading ActivityThe national roll out of Ultrafast Broadband withinthe city is creating concern. Due to the speedwith which this has been introduced, a forwardprogramme of works has not been fully developedresulting in a number of recently completedCouncil works being dug up reducing the potentiallife of the pavement.Analysis of the pavements and structures toaccommodate High Productivity Motor Vehicleshas not been completed at this time. It is thereforeunclear as to what damage and/or remedial workwill need to be undertaken once these vehiclesbecome operative.Constrained external funding from the NewZealand Transport Agency, particularly as it relatesto maintenance and renewals, may see levelsof service reduced. Local Government capitalprojects are currently receiving a low investmentprofile with little hope of any projects beingfinancially assisted.Central Government currently has a taskforceinvestigating the costs associated with roadmaintenance with a belief that up to 20% ofmaintenance costs can be removed across thecountry with some of the key ideas being: adaptingbusiness models; improving procurement by local,regional or national collaboration; and improvingthe prioritisation of investment. Also the issueof peak oil and how it may affect the City is nowbeginning to challenge our thinking. Both of theseitems present huge challenges for the Council inthe coming years.What the Council Does Roading And ParkingEnvironmentalSustainability...Palmerston North City Council Annual Report 2011/1295