Wellington City Council officers have run out of time to do a parking management plan before detailed design work is undertaken on a long-awaited fix to the Island Bay cycleway.
It's the latest bump in the road for the troubled transport project. Southern Ward councillor Fleur Fitzsimons said the situationwas all too familiar.
"The council needs to apologise to Island Bay residents, especially cyclists and businesses, for the constant flip-flopping on the cycleway."
Meanwhile, consultation results show most people don't like the proposed fix anyway, with 66 per cent of submitters strongly opposed or opposed.
Comments in opposition were based mainly around how the proposed plan will affect car parking and access to businesses and shared a desire to return to the Parade's previous layout.
The 1.7km cycleway has been the subject of court action and safety concerns. It's set between the footpath and parked cars, with the road on the other side.
In November, councillors decided to resurface and repaint it with kerb separators between parked cars and the cycleway. The cycleway will also be put through the town centre, meaning some car parks will be changed from angle to parallel.
It was also agreed a parking policy plan would be undertaken before detailed design work, because of the loss of car parks.
The decision came five years after the cycleway was initially built and overturned a previous decision made in 2017 on how to fix it.
But in a paper in an upcoming council committee agenda, officers have reported they are yet to complete the requested parking plan because of the city moving to the Covid-19 red traffic light setting.
Councillor Fleur Fitzsimons. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The draft plan is now expected to be finalised by the end of this month - the same time construction is due to start on residential sections of the Parade.
Resurfacing work is weather dependent and after March, there is risk of treatment failure as temperatures drop.
Council officers have been using information from a 2017 survey for design work instead. They reported there was little change when compared to the fresh data they have now received from the latest survey.
Council officers recommended approving the plan to fix the cycleway.
Deferring the work until the parking management plan was done would delay safety improvements and give a lack of certainty to the community, officers said.
Planning and Environment committee chairwoman councillor Iona Pannett agreed.
"It is not in the public interest to have a debate about whether cyclists can be safe."
Fitzsimons said the situation was another failure to implement a decision councillors have made.
"The council is proposing to remove many car parks and is refusing to give residents and businesses any certainty about the plan for doing so, despite councillors agreeing that a local area parking plan was to be done prior to detailed design."
Feedback from consultation on the plan to fix the cycleway had been ignored, Fitzsimons said.
"This is so disappointing as people gave up their time and to bring their perspective."
Council officers said where practicable, and within project objectives, they were working with submitters to mitigate their concerns.
