Work starts on free parking

Rotorua Mayor-elect Steve Chadwick and Inner City Enterprises operations manager Richard Horn. Photo / Supplied

Work will start tonight on installing a new parking programme which will see the heart of the city get free parking.

The 18-month trial of free parking will start on December 2 and is a direct response to community feedback during public consultation on the Rotorua District Council's current Annual Plan.

The programme, Park Rotorua, includes free two-hour parking in the immediate inner city area, retaining the existing unlimited metered parking on the inner city fringes and free unlimited parking on the perimeter of the city.

Rotorua Mayor-elect Steve Chadwick said the parking initiative had been designed to provide better parking options and to support the growth and revitalisation of the inner city.

"This is an exciting development for Rotorua's heart of the city, particularly leading into the busy Christmas period, but also beyond that as we seek to build and regenerate our inner city."

Park Rotorua involves installing wireless in-ground sensors across about 1500 inner city parking spaces, including metered and two-hour unmetered bays.

The sensors monitor the two-hour free spaces, alerting parking overstays.

The new parking system is run by Smart Parking, an international company that has already put in parking systems in Taupo, Hamilton and New Plymouth. The sensors will be monitored by both the council and Smart Parking.

The new technology was tested on 30 car park spaces in Pukuatua St and some additional spaces in areas with high levels of geothermal activity and sulphur. The trial also collected parking data to make comparisons with the existing system.

Council Inner City Enterprises manager Nick Dallimore said the first phase of sensor installation starts tonight.

Installation works are on a street-by-street basis. Where a street has residential or hotel accommodation, installation work will be before 10pm and after 7am. Installation on all other streets will be between 7pm and 5am to minimise disruption.

"Businesses, residents and customers will be informed about pending work in their street and will be asked to vacate parking spaces by 7pm on the relevant night."

Electronic communication equipment will be installed in each street, however there will be no disruption to day-to-day operations and activities in the inner city.