Business leaders meet with Rotorua Lakes Council chief executive, mayor over i-Park woes

An i-Park meter in Rotorua. Photo / Stephen Parker

"Over a year of continued frustrations" is how a Rotorua business leader has described the rollout of the i-Park parking system in the city.

The comments follow a meeting between businessmen Craig Elliott and Gregg Brown with mayor Steve Chadwick and Rotorua Lakes Council chief executive Geoff Williams and infrastructure manager Stavros Michael on Thursday last week.

Elliott owns hair salon House of Elliott, while Brown owns the Pig & Whistle pub, as well as Capers Epicurean cafe.

Despite the frustrations, Elliott said he felt the message got through.

House of Elliott hairdressing owner Craig Elliott. Photo / Felix Desmarais / LDR

He had posted a "rant" to the Rotorua Lakes Council's Facebook page on January 6.

"Congratulations our first client of the year arrives distraught and angry," he wrote.

"The CBD parking is an absolute shambles."

There were 223 comments and 12 shares on the post by Tuesday this week.

Shortly afterward, Chadwick visited House of Elliott in person and invited him to a meeting with her and the chief executive to discuss the issues, Elliott said.

Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick. Photo / File

He believed there were "five to 10 disruptions a day" to his business due to the system.

Disruptions usually took the form of faulty machines or people unable to work out how to use the interface.

"The machines are not functional. They're spasmodic."

The council had provided a service that was "not user-friendly" and had failed to adequately communicate its rollout with businesses.

He had communicated this in the meeting, and he felt "confident" the views had been heard and understood.

"They seem positive in the ability to mould and adapt the machines to have a functioning system shortly."

Issues with the i-Park system are being worked through. Photo / Stephen Parker

Leaving the CBD had been a consideration for Elliott, with a lease due for renewal in October and three months' notice required.

"If I can't have a fair parking system, I need to move where I can.

"I don't want to leave, I want to be here for years, but you've got to give us a fair and reasonable system that all my consumers can use."

He understood there would be a "couple of announcements" on the i-Park system soon.

Brown said he had considered moving Capers out of the CBD, but it was about more than the parking issues.

"I haven't personally had an issue with i-Park but I'm keenly aware it could be another headwind for the CBD."

Rotorua Lakes Council chief executive Geoff Williams. Photo / File

Other "headwinds" were the challenges of online shopping, large retailers moving into malls, a number of empty shops and problems with homelessness.

It was difficult to measure if issues with i-Park had directly affected his businesses as both were near to free parking areas but it was a concern.

Brown also believed the council had taken on board his concerns and would be acting on them.

"It's not all doom and gloom. They were aware of the issues and they're attempting to rectify them."

Cars in the Rotorua CBD. Photo / File

A council spokeswoman confirmed the issue would be discussed by infrastructure manager Stavros Michael at a council Operations and Monitoring Committee meeting on Wednesday morning, and neither the council nor the mayor would not provide comment until then.

I-Park has previously said all aspects of parking policy, configuration, tariffs and time limits were the responsibility of the council and i-Park provided the service according to the council's direction.