Mayor Stoltz said the situation was probably exacerbated by the closure of the Bright Street carpark opposite the Covid-19 testing centre at War Memorial Theatre, but that carpark was due to reopen this weekend.
She believed the council needed to balance the desire to encourage people to visit the CBD with time controls that kept parking available.
The parking options put forward by council staff as ways to encourage more people to visit the town centre in the wake of Covid-19 did not include fully free parking.
Their suggestions included two hours of free parking each day, free parking on Saturdays or making all metered parking $1 an hour.
Councillor Pat Seymour said she supported what Whakatane's council provided in its CBD — free one-hour parking spots — but she had also heard the concerns of retailers so moved the option to make all metered parking $1 an hour regardless of location.
She added that if it was the “will of the world” to have free parking in the city centre, it should be from 3pm to 5pm, when there were “hardly any” cars in town and when parents would be able to bring their children into the CBD to go shopping.
That suggestion was widely supported by councillors and added to the resolution that was unanimously passed during yesterday's finance and performance committee meeting.
The free parking from 3pm on weekdays and metered parking at $1 an hour will be in place for 12 months while a longer-term solution is thrashed out.
The change to metered parking, which has cost up to $2 an hour, means the council can expect to miss out on $81,500 in revenue over three months.
Introducing two hours of free parking on weekdays came at an estimated loss of $42,000 over three months.
The council normally collects $685,000 a year from parking meters.
Gary McKenzie, the council's compliance monitoring and enforcement manager, told councillors yesterday that the estimated loss in revenue from parking since the lockdown was $125,000.
His report to councillors warned that reducing the income generated by parking services, which were currently self-funded, risked a rates increase to cover costs.
Deputy mayor Josh Wharehinga said he supported Cr Seymour's recommendation but believed parking services should remain self-funded.
One of the reasons meter money was collected was to pay for parking system upgrades, Cr Wharehinga said.
Councillor Andy Cranston said the biggest issue previous reviews of parking had identified was people not having coins in their car to pay for metered parking.
In other cities, modern meters allow people to pay for parking with cards or via text message.
Cr Cranston questioned whether the $1 potentially saved on metered parking would stimulate business.
“I've got my doubts about that.”
