An aerial view of Pilot Bay during lockdown, when people on bikes and scooters took over the suddenly car-less streets. Photo / File
An aerial view of Pilot Bay during lockdown, when people on bikes and scooters took over the suddenly car-less streets. Photo / File
The Tauranga City Council is taking a controversial project back to almost square one - and planning to spend up to half the nearly $1 million budget on community engagement.
The project has been dubbed Innovating Streets at The Mount, named after the NZ Transport Agency fund that will provide 90 per cent of the $990,000 budget to the council's 10 per cent.
The council applied to the Innovating Streets fund, set up to back "tactical urbanism" projects, in May and funding was granted in June.
It had pitched a plan that included revisiting the shelved Pilot Bay one-way trial and adding facilities for cyclists, scooters and the like up The Mall, around the top end of the Mount and down Marine Parade to Tay St, and doing extra safety improvements at that intersection.
But after the funding was granted, there was an uproar from some Mount North residents about revisiting the one-way idea.
Now, the council has unveiled a co-design plan that will see the community presented with an almost blank slate for designing what should be trialled.
Project manager Guy Protheroe said the only thing the council was committed to was making it safer, more accessible and more attractive to move around the Mount for the general public, not just those in cars.
"We want to create an environment that is comfortable for everyone."
Everything else - what will be trialled, how it will be trialled, which streets will see changes and, to some extent, even when the trial will happen - is yet to be settled.
There are limitations. Changes have to be low cost due to the budget, and the NZTA funding will expire in June 2021.
The project was also limited to the road corridor, which meant off-road ideas - such as changes to boardwalks - would be out of scope.
Protheroe, who was appointed to the council's new urban designer role a few months ago, said the council had no preconceived ideas and wanted to make changes identified by the community.
A one-way system could be an option, or not, with speed limit changes, street art, and alternative parking layouts among other ideas.
On Wednesdaythe council will start its first round of formal community engagement.
It will ask people about their experience of the Mount now, which routes should be included in the trial, and what should be changed or kept.
The council is asking the community if these routes should be included in the trial and if there are other routes to consider. Graphic / Supplied
Four routes have been proposed - The Mall, Marine Parade along Mount Main Beach, Banks to Salisbury Ave and Marine Parade from Banks Ave to Tay St.
It will also ask people whether they want to register to be part of a community design group that will work with the council's designers.
Protheroe said the group would have up to 24 people, representing a cross-section of interested parties including residents of each affected street, plus businesses, iwi, cyclists, the elderly, boat ramp users and more.
For some groups, the council aimed to have one person who supported making change, and one sceptic.
But with hundreds of people expected to register interest in joining the group, names of representatives for some slots may be randomly selected.
The design group will help the designers whittle down ideas and settle on trial options. These would be put to the community first, with the final decision on what will go ahead to be made by the council's elected members.
Protheroe anticipated the trials would be set up around March and start operating in April.
Once operational, the changes would still be able to be tweaked based on how they were working, and could be scrapped permanently if they failed.
Protheroe said the council was trying a new way of working with the community in co-design.
If it worked, it could be a template for future projects.
"Hopefully we will learn a lot of lessons."
He said he understood some would be sceptical after the project's "challenging" start, and it would be an exercise in building trust.
Mount Maunganui/Papamoa ward councillor Dawn Kiddie said she and fellow ward councillor Steve Morris worked closely with the council on the plan and she was feeling good about it.
She said the community could be reassured, as they had been, it would be a true co-design process and their views would be listened to.
Mount Maunganui Residents, Ratepayers and Retailers was planning to host a meeting about the project tomorrow night but this has been cancelled due to Covid-19 gathering restrictions and would be rescheduled.
Aug 19 - Community feedback round one opens Sept 2 - Deadline for registering interest in participating in Community Design Group Sept 7 - Deadline for community feedback Sept 24 onwards - Develop design options with Community Design Group Nov - Community feedback (round two): design options Dec - Finalise a design supported by the community that can be set up as a trial Mar 2021 - Set up trials and find out what people think of it June 30 - Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency funding completed.
