Councillor objects to $1.45m cost for carparks

Chris Darby. Photo / Supplied

A North Shore City Council member says he is embarrassed to think that the council could spend up to $750,000 to provide a single carparking space in Glenfield shopping centre.

Chris Darby said yesterday the council spent $650,000 buying the land and was now considering spending about $800,000 to convert it for offstreet carparking.

After deducting the number of parking spaces lost at the shops because of traffic works, he reckoned the net gain in parking was only two carparks.

"That's $750,000 a carpark ... that's a good spending decision?

"It's embarrassing to me. It's a grossly poor spend."

Mr Darby said that in 2006, he had supported the council getting land to compensate for the loss of carparks when a bus station was built on Glenfield Rd.

By the time the council bought the land at 450 Glenfield Rd in April, it had lost sight of the original concept of a bus station and a mid-block crossing to link shoppers with the east and west side of the busy arterial road.

"It is now just a glorified bus stop ... it goes against my advocacy for improving the streetscape through urban design."

Mayor Andrew Williams said Mr Darby's comment was a "total red herring and quite incorrect".

The council was creating 22 carparks - a significant number to compensate for 17 parking spaces to be lost to public transport improvement.

"This loss would put Glenfield businesses in a bad situation because people won't stop and go to the local shops and not everyone wants to go in the [Glenfield] Mall.

"It's a worthy project, in line with off-street parking that council has provided at other shopping centres."

Mr Williams said the council was responding to calls for action from businesses.

Transport programmes manager Chris Jones said 22 spaces could be created once the land was cleared of two buildings. The site would help the council address long-standing safety issues at the intersection.

The council will investigate and prepare designs for parking on the site within a $400,000 budget.

Work would be in consultation with the Glenfield Community Board and take in safety problems.

It will be part of the upgrade project planned to start in December for the stretch of Glenfield Rd from Bentley Rd to Kaipatiki Rd.