Bay Harbour: September 27, 2017

Wednesday September 27 2017
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
BAY HARBOUR
PAGE 5
heritage
OOH LA LA: There will be a
French-themed cabaret on
Saturday night.
•Tickets for the cabaret
evening are available through
Eventfinder, the Akaroa Information
Centre and at the
information booth on the day.
FUN: A competitor races to
the finish line in one of the
2015 Frenchfest games.
FAST FACTS:
•Frenchfest is a mainly free,
family-orientated event
held from October 6-8.
•Staged every two years,
it celebrates the unity
of European and Maori
cultures in the historic
township of Akaroa.
•Onuku Whanau Day
at Onuku Marae is a
new initiative this year.
Beginning with a powhiri,
a range of activities will
be held throughout the
day, including interactive
spaces, creation stories,
local history, artwork, food
preparation, games, poi
and hangi.
Boards take differing stance
on footpath parking
• By Sarla Donovan
THE TWO community boards
in the Bay Harbour News
area have differing views over
whether parking on kerbs,
berms and footpaths should be
allowed.
It comes as the city council
considers submissions on the
proposed Traffic and Parking
Bylaw 2017.
The Banks Peninsula Community
Board wants vehicles
to be able to partially park over
footpaths, kerbs and berms,
while the Linwood-Central-
Heathcote Community Board
has asked only that the city
council define what a verge is.
Under the bylaw’s proposed
changes, it would be illegal to
park anywhere on a formed
pathway, but not on a verge.
In a submission on the
proposed bylaw, the Banks
Peninsula board said many
Lyttelton homes were located in
narrow streets with no off-street
parking.
The proposed restrictions
would prevent some residents
from parking near their homes,
it said, and has asked the city
council to amend the proposed
bylaw and allow vehicles to park
partly over footpaths without
fear of being ticketed.
However, the Linwood-
Central-Heathcote Community
Board, which also includes hilly
areas such as Mt Pleasant, Redcliffs,
Clifton and Richmond
Hill, has not raised similar
concerns for residents living in
its ward.
Last week, the Bay Harbour
News reported Richmond Hill
Rd resident Brian Anderson had
twice been ticketed for parking
on the footpath outside his
home and so had his neighbour.
Mr Anderson said he was
surprised at the tickets, as he’d
been parking over the footpath
for more than 30 years and most
other residents and visitors did
the same.
“It’s too narrow not to,” he
said last week. “By parking
clear of the footpath, the road
is needlessly narrowed and obstructed,
greatly increasing the
risk of an accident.”
City council parking and operations
team leader Clive Morris
said everyone in the country
was prohibited from parking
on a footpath under road user
rules, “so every driver in the
country must abide by it.”
The new bylaw would widen
the city councils powers to
ticket those parked on grass
berms and other areas which
didn’t currently fall within the
legal definition of a footpath.
Linwood-Central-Heathcote
board chairwoman Sally Buck
said while she had sympathy
with the Banks Peninsula
board, they wouldn’t be advocating
for the bylaw to be
changed.
Ms Buck said nobody “goes
looking” to ticket people like Mr
Anderson.
“It’s usually someone up
there deciding they don’t want
you to park there. It’s whether
somebody makes a big deal of
isn’t it?”
The city council will hear
verbal submissions on the
proposed bylaw in October and
expects to it to come into force
by the end of the year.
•HAVE YOUR SAY: Should
people be allowed to park
partly over a footpath in
some areas? Tell us what
you think: sarla.donovan@
starmedia.kiwi
•Your local views, p11
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