Ohakune service lane mess annoys retailers

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 13, Issue 603, 12 September 1995, Page 1

Ohakune service lane mess annoys retailers

Feuding factions among Ohakune' s commercial area land owners and occupiers should be brought together to sort out a solution to the perennial service-lane problem. That was the decision of the Waimarino Community Board at their meeting last Thursday, in contrast to the council officer's report which leant towards the council adopting a do-nothing approach.

The board decided a meeting should be organised, inviting affected parties, with board members acting as mediators in a discussion on how to solve the problem. A meeting of affected parties was planned for yesterday afternoon. They also called for a "positive report" from the council' s town planner, in consultation with the affected parties, that would suggest

solutions to the service access problem as well as the general parking problem in the commercial area. The board heard that a long-term problem has been brewing regarding access to the rear of shops on the Goldfinch-Clyde-Ayr-Rata streets block and that the problem was now coming to a head. The present access lane is an unofficial one in that almost all of it

crosses vanous pieces ot pnvately ownea land ana is not legally a public access way. Health and safety issue A submission from one occupier, Pat Mcllroy, was heard. She outlined exasperating problems of access to the back of her Dew Drop Inn premises. She said the present physical access is not legitimate and only relies on the good-will of neighbours, Frank Broadbent of Berry's Bookshop, who could easily block her access if he chose to build to his boundary. Mrs Mcllroy said the problem was urgent and was now one of health and safety. She said soon her only option for access was from her Clyde Street frontage. "If I put my (takeaway business) rubbish out on the street you'd be very unhappy," she said. "It's fish boxes, chicken boxes — at the moment it's locked in a courtyard but soon the only way to get it out from there will be by helicopter." Also. she said if there was ever a fire. there would be no access for emergency services, making the situation potentially dangerous. She said the problem has come to a head because Ohakune TV & Electrical had blocked off the access across their land at one end of the lane and a huge hole in the middle of the track had been blocking access from Ayr Street, until it was fixed recently. To add to the problem, she had been instructed by Ohakune Shopping Centre (her landlord) that tenants could not exceed the two-hour parking limit out on the street and that Webb's Motors had been contracted to tow away cars that breached the time limit.

"I can't park at the back, I can't park at the front — you tell me where am I going to park?" she asked. "I find it atrocious that in a developing town like this, that this has been allowed to happen," she said. "Where is the town planning? It's a total mess." The property officer's report said the council could not act to provide a service lane. He stated that "council has the authority to acquire land Turn to page 2

Ohakune service lane mess

FROMPAGE1 and construct a service lane, however, it is not considered competent nor for the public good of the district to provide such access to limited property owners". He said an alternative existed, which was for the property owners to negotiate access. Mrs Mcllroy said the issue was a matter of the public good. She suggested the council could develop it as a public car park as well as service lane. Board member Ellen Gould said the lane would be in the public good. She

said anything that got even a few cars off the block would be useful. It was (apparently facetiously) suggested that Jubilee Park could be used to provide a car park. Feud Board chairman Colin Webb said the situation had arisen because of a feud among retailers who had led to it being 'stopped for everyone' He did not name who he thought the feuding parties were. "I understand that there is at present total incompatibility between at least two of the parties."

He said there had been talk of a gate being put up on the lane to stop "people using it who shouldn't be using it". Mr Low conceded that he would be against the use of council land in the block being used as part of a service lane as it would affect any possible return for the council from the land. He said as property officer, his

main responsibility was to see that the council got the best return possible from its land holdings. The Bulletin asked Bob Norling from Ohakune TV Electrical why he had put up the railway-iron barrier around his boundary. He replied that it was for a number of reasons: security was a problem in that a lot of people were using the lane for through-access; cars and even his building had been damaged by deli very trucks using his property for access; while he had paid out to have his car

park metalled, no one had ever asked him for permission to use it for access, nor offered to help pay for the resurfacing; vehicle access to the back of his shop was sometimes difficult because of people parking inconsiderately. "I felt it was time I did something about it," he said. He said he was not involved in any feud. It was interesting to note that on the day the Bulletin called, four cars were parked on his property, that Mr Norling said had no right to be there.