Editorial: Positive plan to enhance central city

OPINION: Central Nelson, from the air, has a few distinctive features. There is Christ-Church Cathedral in its splendid park setting and, beside it, the closest thing we have to a high-rise big city building, the Rutherford Hotel. On the fringes are the used car yards, the Warehouse-Countdown twin-play and the large Harvey Norman building.

Among the most noticeable aspects are the retail-edged parking precincts – Montgomery, Buxton, Miller's Acre and Wakatu. Their importance in underpinning the central business district cannot be understated. They might be utilitarian, but they are critical to the city's retail scene during the day and dining and entertainment nightlife, and they are an important legacy of visionary councils from the past.

As well as providing all-important parking with an emphasis on encouraging traffic turnaround rather than longterm occupancy, they also allow the city to breathe – an aspect that most Nelsonians probably take for granted, but one that makes a refreshing change from the hemmed-in, tall building, concrete-and-glass aspect more typical of larger cities.

Another visionary project is currently under way. The Heart of Nelson Strategy is a blueprint for developing the central city and its fringes for the next several decades. Within its 150 pages are more than 100 initiatives to improve the central city, with a focus on the two main gateways, the CBD and its link to the sea. Much thought has gone into finding ways to make the city more people-friendly. It is the sort of project that can fly under the radar when council achievements are considered, but which ultimately will be viewed as a transparent, visionary planning framework. The central thrust – the heart, if you like – is the determination that central Nelson be revitalised.

One feature given a high priority is creating a "pocket park" in Montgomery Square. The idea is to establish a central area for people to kick back and relax in. Ideally, this would also showcase Nelson art, be supported by cafes and develop as a small but perfectly formed "town square". The downside, as noted in the Mail yesterday, is that up to 24 carparks would be lost. This might seem significant to people searching in vain for a park at 3.30 on a sunny Friday afternoon. However, some perspective might be useful.

The four parking squares mentioned currently have 862 parks between them, excluding mobility parks and loading zones. A further 565 metered parks are available on the streets of the CBD. Together, these bring in just under $1 million a year in revenue for the city, and the loss of the 24 Montgomery Square parks would cost around $30,000 annually. On top of that, the "pocket park" is expected to cost $120,000 to develop. If this figure is even close to the mark, it would represent a potentially significant new asset for the city at a minimal cost. Though early criticism has focused on the loss of carparks, the total number of them tends to fluctuate from year to year – a further three are planned for Halifax St, for example.

Richmond retailers might quietly welcome any suggestion that Nelson car parking will tighten. However, this is more about perception than reality. The development requires less than 1.7 per cent of the paid public parking spots in the CBD, and motorists would have another 1400 parks to vie for. Tighter parking might even encourage greater use of public transport – another strategy important to the city's future. As a positive plan aimed at reversing the trend of urban decline common to cities around the world, the plan has merit.

- © Fairfax NZ News