Meetings as locals seek to ease Wood St congestion

 

BY JULIA WADE

What to do with the Christmas holiday chaos of jostling traffic, parking logjams and congestion woes at a popular local shopping centre was the hot topic of a recent community meeting.
 
Initiated by the Mangawhai Business Association (MBA) along with Mangawhai Heads Wood Street business owners and involving residents living in close proximity to the centre with Kaipara District Council (KDC) facilitating, two workshops were held at the Senior Citizens Hall, Fagan Place on October 4 and 10. 

KDC community and recreation advisor and Mangawhai resident Gail Fotheringham led the meeting, saying the gatherings are about ‘starting a conversation’.

“I use this street every day… there are things that are not working for us. I see cars and trucks battle for space and driving over pavements, there is no defined parking, we’ve got big boats and trailers coming through and a gas station in the middle,” she says. “Our infrastructure is not designed for our growth so we need to look for innovative ways on how we get around and how we socialise in this area.” 

Due to misunderstandings and confusion reported earlier on social media, Fotheringham and Kaipara's deputy mayor Peter Wethey both clarified that any changes, including trialling a one-way traffic system along Wood Street which was favoured at the first meeting, will only be temporary measures between mid-December to mid-February, and to date no decisions have been made.

“It’s a design process at this point, involving the people most immediately affected… if we have to involve everybody in the community just to get some trialling ideas, we would never get to any decisions,” Fotheringham says. “The idea is to try stuff and see how it works, before anything happens though we will have an open day and share all the design ideas with the community.”

Following the principles of 'Pomegranate method’ – a creative, inclusive and collaborative technique designed to help groups make decisive plans – residents and business owners split into groups to brainstorm the question ‘How to make Wood Street precinct more accessible and safer to pedestrians, business and road users over the upcoming peak summer season?’ Fotheringham also listed some guiding ground rules.

“Civility – no blame-game if you don't like something, you don't need to say it, come up with something better. Enquiry – look at different ideas, seek the community’s highest goal not just the basics, what would suit everyone?” she says. “We’re looking for multiple-wins, listen, be open-minded and be open to changing your mind.” 

Ideas will then be worked on by a KDC mixed technical team and given the short time frame, the more feasible and applicable solutions will be presented to the community at a third meeting in November.

Among the 35 ideas listed from the first meeting was the popular ‘make Wood Street one way’, improve road markings, create more parking (allow cars on berms), angled parking and time limits with alternative parking for business owners, bike racks and a traffic officer for three days over Christmas. 

In respect to the inevitable effects Mangawhai Central will have on the shopping centre, long-term plans to redefine the township over the next five years were also briefly discussed. 

KDC deputy mayor Peter Wethey says he actively supports improving traffic congestion over the holiday season as Wood Street ‘was a shambles last year’.

“Anything we trial has to be put in place in mid-December, it is not acceptable to have no parking, not good for business," he says. "We know what Christmas in Mangawhai turns into... but traffic flow and parking even outside the holiday season is not great... leaving Wood Street as it is, is not an option."

Guided by planners from Auckland design practice Resilio Studio, nearby residents and Wood Street business owners present their ideas on how to make the shopping areas traffic flow more smoothly this holiday season.