Minutes of a meeting of the Nelson City Council
Held in the Council Chamber, Civic House, 110 Trafalgar Street, Nelson
On Wednesday 9 September 2020, commencing at 2.00p.m.
Present: Her
Worship the Mayor R Reese (Chairperson), Councillors
Y Bowater, T Brand, M Courtney, J Edgar (Deputy Mayor), K Fulton, M Lawrey, R
O'Neill-Stevens, B McGurk, G Noonan, P Rainey, R Sanson and T Skinner
In Attendance: Chief Executive (P Dougherty), Group Manager Environmental Management (C Barton), Group Manager Infrastructure (Alec Louverdis), Team Leader Governance (R Byrne) and Governance Advisor (E Stephenson)
Apologies : Nil
Karakia Timatanga
Council Kaihautu, Pania Lee gave the opening karakia.
1. Apologies
2. Confirmation of Order of Business
There were no changes to the order of business.
There were no updates to the Interests Register, and no interests with items on the agenda were declared.
Document number R20295, agenda pages 5 - 6 refer.
Her Worship the Mayor Reese presented her report which provided her perspective on the City Centre Streets for People Deliberations Report. She spoke about possible hybrid options to enable a decision to be made, noting that the lead officer had not had the opportunity to engage with the City Centre Taskforce on any alternate options.
Mayor Reese noted it was important to continue to invest in places for people, to deliver the six key moves, and maintain and grow relationships with retailers, landowners and the community.
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1. Receives the report Mayor's Report (R20295).
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6. City Centre Streets for People Deliberations Report
Document number R18133, agenda pages 7 - 35 refer.
Team Leader City Development, Lisa Gibellini, and City Centre Development Programme Lead, Alan Gray, presented their report and tabled a Hybrid Option 2 aerial and street view (A2461326 and A2461329).
Mr Gray explained that during the City Centre Streets for People consultation Council had applied for funding from Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency (Waka Kotahi), which was approved. As the results of the consultation were 43% to leave as is and 39% to close Trafalgar St to vehicles, it was clear that further engagement was required. At the same time COVID-19 Levels of lockdown required new ways of working which resulted in a higher workload for the City Development team and other Council business units. The funding from Waka Kotahi was contingent on co-design and the work being completed by June 2021. This meant that staff would not be able to achieve other important parts of the workload, specifically the City Centre Spatial Plan, which worked in tandem with the Parking Strategy and informed the Long Term Plan process.
Ms Gibellini and Mr Gray answered questions on loss of carparks and technical challenges like the crown and profile of Trafalgar St
Waka Kotahi’s Lead Advisor Urban Motility, Claire Pascoe, joined the meeting via Zoom and provided advice about Innovative Streets funding. She said that while Trafalgar Street was already vibrant, Waka Kotahi were excited that Council wanted to create further vibrancy. The Innovative Streets funding was to help to take people on a longer journey of change by providing smaller temporary projects so people could get a feel for what a space would be like before it was made permanent. She noted the vision was to attract people to spend time and money in the city centre. The methodology of trialling and piloting projects was a new opportunity for Waka Kotahi and they had brought in experts to provide support. If 50% of a community were in support, that was a good percentage for projects of this kind.
During discussion it was noted that the short timeframe to provide an outcome for the Innovative Streets project was no longer deliverable, given that it had taken 18 months of engagement and two trial closures before permanently closing the top of Trafalgar St. Ms Pascoe confirmed that Innovative Streets (90%) funding would run out in June 2021; following this the Funding Assistance Rate (FAR) of 50% would be available if a project fit the criteria.
Group Manager Environment, Clare Barton, advised on the impact the project could have on Council – externally in terms of risk and on internal delivery. It would take months to provide good engagement with retailers, landowners and the community and given the significant workload required to deliver the project it would mean that other work would need to be dropped by the City Centre Development team, the Capital Projects team and other teams across Council. She recommended that the Spatial Plan, which was a key component to Council’s strategic vision as a city, be completed first followed by on the City Centre Streets project which could then apply to Waka Kotahi for FAR funding.
Ms Gibellini and Mr Gray answered further questions on:
· Church St redesign meeting the funding criteria, noting current proposals would not align
· The financial cost and staff time involved in the City Centre Streets for People project
· Number of car parks lost in Hybrid Option 2
· Data on previous case studies and the benefits of place making
· The possibility of a smaller intervention if local advocates were willing to remove car parks from in front of their retail space
· Co-design including consultation with stakeholders
· Parking pay-by-plate data
The meeting adjourned from 3.38p.m. to 3.51p.m.
· Integration of the Parking Strategy and Public Transport Plan into the Spatial Plan
· Legal action raised in a letter from retailers
· Economic impacts from COVID-19
The recommendation was taken in parts.
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1. Receives the report City Centre Streets for People Deliberations Report (R18133) and its attachments (A2444112, A2448998 A2444109, A2461326 and A2461329); and |
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Her Worship the Mayor/O'Neill-Stevens Carried |
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2. Revokes resolution (CL/2002/043) of Council on 23 April 2020 below: “2. Approves stage 1 short term tactical initiatives to enable safe pedestrian movement in the city centre post COVID19 lockdown from existing unspent Transport budget;” |
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1 A2461326 Tabled document NCC Streets for People Hybrid Option 2 Aerial 9Sep2020 2 A2461329 tabled document NCC Streets for People Hybrid Option 2 Eye Level 9Sep2020 |
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7. Exclusion of the Public
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1. Excludes the public from the following parts of the proceedings of this meeting. 2. The general subject of each matter to be considered while the public is excluded, the reason for passing this resolution in relation to each matter and the specific grounds under section 48(1) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 for the passing of this resolution are as follows: |
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Item |
General subject of each matter to be considered |
Reason for passing this resolution in relation to each matter |
Particular interests protected (where applicable) |
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City Centre Streets for People Deliberations Report |
Section 48(1)(a) The public conduct of this matter would be likely to result in disclosure of information for which good reason exists under section 7 |
The withholding of the information is necessary: · Section 7(2)(g) To maintain legal professional privilege |
The meeting went into confidential session at 4.30p.m. and resumed in public session at 5.39p.m.
Chief Executive, Pat Dougherty answered questions on capacity to deliver and advised staff might be in a better position to start a smaller scale option in 6-9 months, however he did not recommend this as it would not be funded by the Innovated Streets fund and there was no guarantee it would qualify for FAR funding as, in the current political climate, criteria could change.
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Adjournment of Meeting |
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1. Adjourns the meeting until 10 September 2020 to follow, or during adjournment of, the Community Services Committee meeting held in the Council Chamber. |
The meeting adjourned at 5.39p.m.
Minutes of a meeting of the Nelson City Council
Held in the Council Chamber, Civic House, 110 Trafalgar Street, Nelson
Reconvened on Wednesday 10 September 2020, commencing at 2.25p.m.
Present: Her
Worship the Mayor R Reese (Chairperson), Councillors
Y Bowater, T Brand, M Courtney, J Edgar (Deputy Mayor), K Fulton, M Lawrey, R
O'Neill-Stevens, B McGurk, G Noonan, P Rainey, R Sanson and T Skinner
In Attendance: Chief Executive (P Dougherty), Group Manager Environmental Management (C Barton), Group Manager Infrastructure (Alec Louverdis), Team Leader Governance (R Byrne) and Governance Advisor (E Stephenson)
Apologies : Nil
8 City Centre Streets for People Deliberations Report (Reconvened)
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Her Worship the Mayor Reese thanked members for the collaborative way they had worked to find a pathway forward on the City Centre Streets for People project. She reflected on the pressure on officers, on businesses and the community and noted that COVID-19 and the high pressure of work required to deliver on the Innovative Streets funding meant the project could not be delivered and the funding would be relinquished.
Mayor Reese moved an alternative suite of recommendations, seconded by Councillor Edgar.
Ms Gibellini and Mr Gray answered questions on: · Ways to connect with stakeholders · Initial engagement with stakeholders (6 May 2020) and the role of the taskforce · Costs to date · Confirmation that engagement on the City Centre project would continue through design phase in the 20/21 year, with capital works in 2021/22 · Parameters of the Spatial Plan During debate Councillor Rainey called a Point of Order that Councillor Skinner was misrepresenting the actions of the City Centre Working Group. The Point of Order was upheld and Councillor Skinner was asked to retract his statement.
The meeting briefly adjourned from 4.34p.m. to 4.35p.m. |
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3. Approves the completion of the City Centre Spatial Plan as a first priority for the City Development Team, noting the Spatial Plan will be aligned with the Parking Strategy; and 4. Supports the work in the City Centre by allocating: 2020/2021 year $200,000 unbudgeted operating expenditure $400,000 capital expenditure Reallocating the Annual Plan capital budget for this work to: 2021/2022 year $1.2M 2022/2023 year $1.5M 5. Accepts budgets may need to be adjusted to allow for appropriate sequencing and agrees the purpose of this funding is to advance the pedestrian and place-making aspirations anticipated in the Spatial Plan, noting that engagement and design commences during the 2020/21 year and delivery and implementation commences during the 2021/22 year. 6. Notes where tactical works are implemented they need to be of a scale that is able to be evaluated, and while they are moveable and removable, in order to test them the expectation is that they will be in place for at least 3 years; and 7. Supports the City Development Team in engaging with city centre stakeholders on tactical and permanent, resilient, quality and smart enhancement of Nelsons City Centre; and 8. Accepts the Waka Kotahi funding offer will be relinquished and acknowledges the support from Waka Kotahi; and 9. Notes officers will have follow up discussions with Waka Kotahi for future funding opportunities.
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Karakia Whakamutunga
Her Worship the Mayor Reese led a karakia whakamutunga.
There being no further business the meeting ended at 4.41pm.
Confirmed as a correct record of proceedings:
Chairperson
Date