District-wide parking strategy and comprehensive management plans

We're developing a district-wide parking strategy which will feed in to comprehensive parking management plans for our communities’.

We’ve provided some context below – this outlines some of the things that need to be considered as we develop the strategy and management plans. We also cover off the process and timings for wider community consultation.

What needs to be considered | Strategy objectives | Our process and timeline | Feedback process

What needs to be considered?

Concerns about parking are not unique to our district. But our approach to managing it needs to be. Through this process our work will consider how parking is managed to meet the different needs of our diverse communities in the short, medium and long term.

We will look at how to make best use of the existing parking supply across the district and target known problems to ensure there’s enough parking available for those who need it most, such as those with accessibility challenges or delivering goods and services.

It will also consider things like:

How our transport network, and the way we move around the district, is changing in the short, medium and long term.

Our transport network is changing. Considerable investment in public transport and active travel is both underway and planned for the future. It’s vital we think about how this influences our approach to parking:

• where commuters are competing for parking with tourists and customers,
• where retail and tourist parking is pushing into residential areas, and
• where there are more households living together in the same house so more parking is needed than available.

Vision Beyond 2050

In March 2019, the Council unanimously agreed to commit to the vision as a guiding document to inform future decision making and planning. We will keep this context front of mind when developing the district-wide strategy and subsequent parking management plans:

• Thriving people | Whakapuāwai Hapori
• Embracing the Māori World | Whakatinana I Te Ao Māori
• Opportunities for all | He ōhaka Taurikura
• Breathtaking Creativity | Whakaohooho Auahataka
• Deafening Dawn Chorus | Waraki
• Zero Carbon Communities | Parakore Hapori
• Disaster-defying resilience | He Hapori Aumangea
• Pride in sharing our places | Kia Noho Tahi Tātou Kātoa

Climate change and emissions reduction

Vision Beyond 2050 sets a goal of: Zero Carbon Communities – From Makarora to Kingston, our district sets the standard for regenerative, low impact working and travel.

Our Climate Action Plan sets a goal to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 across the whole district and be resilient to the local impact of climate change across the whole district. Transport plays an important role in this.

When we consider how to manage parking we need to balance community expectations (which are often high) against genuine need (which is incredibly diverse). We also need to consider the relationship between emission targets and parking supply so we better incentivise alternative ways of getting around over a petrol transport fleet.

Balancing community and commercial needs

Whether you’re in Makarora, Glenorchy, Queenstown or Wanaka, there are a wide range of demands for parking of all types. We need to balance demands of commuters, tradies, people with mobility challenges or small children, commercial bus operators, delivery or service vehicles, taxis, electric vehicles, bikes, even scooters!

We also need to balance the needs of businesses within residential areas (for example home based or corner shop) and people who live in business areas.

While it might be a little quieter right now, visitors will return to our little piece of paradise adding considerable extra pressure to parking demand.

Other relevant strategies and plans

Our planning needs to factor in the Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport, National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD), the Regional Land Transport Plan (RLTP) that sets out regional land transport priorities. It also needs to integrate with our Spatial Plan, District Plan and other transport planning investigations and projects. Links to these documents can be found in the 'important links' section on the right.

Ensuring we’re making best use of limited space and funds

Wherever you are in the district, we have limited space for parking. It’s the management of our existing parking that is important, not necessarily providing more parking, which only encourages more people to drive.

Building new carparking comes at a cost. Consideration must be given to the significant financial cost involved in building and operating carparking which in turn affects the rates we pay. We also need to consider whether it's the best use of public space.

Strategy objectives

The following objectives have been drafted to guide the development of a district-wide parking strategy.

Parking in our district will be managed in a way that:

Balances availability against need
Limited parking in retail areas is prioritised for goods and service delivery, passenger and public transport and mobility users.

Supports business and the safety and quality of our public spaces
Parking is managed to allow people to wander and safely explore local businesses and public spaces.

Provides a mix of paid and timed restrictions
Parking is managed to improve access for pick up / drop off, parking turnover and reduce congestion.

Maintains fair access for residents
Commercial or commuter spill over is controlled in residential neighbourhoods

Protects and improves the safety of residential areas
Improved opportunity for walking, cycling and neighbourhood meeting places.

Supports travel choice and encourages mode-shift
Parking availability factors in access to public transport and active travel network to support mode-shift and reduce car-reliance.

What's the process for developing the strategy and management plans?

We’d like to hear your thoughts:

Parking is always a hot topic and as a community we’ve talked a lot about the issues over the past few years. We’re drawing on all the feedback we’ve received so far to help us start to prepare the draft Parking Strategy and local parking management plans.

Earlier this year we asked for targeted feedback on a few areas we were keen to explore further, including getting a better understanding of the issues facing our smaller communities like Glenorchy, Hāwea, Luggate and Kingston.

This initial feedback process finished up in May but there will be a wider opportunity for individuals to provide feedback as we further develop the Draft Parking Strategy. This is expected to happen later in the year.

If you have any questions on this process, please get in touch with the Transport Strategy Team via email: parking.strategy@qldc.govt.nz