Love the Bay - final chance to have your say

The end of the Love the Bay process is now in sight. Here's an update from Wellington City Council on what the the final consultation stage will look like.

The end of the process to determine how The Parade should function is now in sight

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"A mailout will go out early next week to properties advising of the consultation, its start date and where to access information. The mailout uses the Council’s property database for address information, and includes the areas within a broad triangle of Berhampore, Owhiro Bay, Houghton Bay and of course includes Island Bay. Approximately 4,300 letters will go to occupiers of properties within that area, and approximately 1000 letters will go to ratepayers of properties in the area, but who live outside the area.
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A hand delivery to commercial properties will be made, recognising that getting mail to some businesses can be problematic. At the same time the question will be asked of the businesses whether they will want to host submission forms and supporting documents in their business premises.

Later next week, media will be provided information which they will use to publish their stories.

The Council’s website – wcc.govt.nz/theparade will go live with the supporting information, at this stage planned for Saturday 29 July.

An FAQ page will be available, updated as immediately as possible but within 24 hrs.

Consultation will open on Monday 31 July, with the Council website (not the Love the Bay website) hosting the consultation.

Consultation will run for 2 weeks, closing 9pm, Sunday 13 August 2017.

The Council website will be the central source of information and we want to encourage its use for information retrieval and making submissions. However we also want to respond to people’s restrictions or preferences on how they want to engage with information and provide feedback so hard copy will also be available.

An important point of access to information, is the drop-in shop at 132 The Parade. The options will be on display and an independent contractor (who has not been involved thus far) will staff the shop. Councillors will also be at the shop on a yet to be determined schedule. The shop hours will be:
Monday - 4pm to 7pm
Tuesday - 11am to 4pm
Wednesday - 11am to 7pm
Thursday - 9am to 3pm
Friday - Closed
Saturday - 10am to 4pm
Sunday- Closed

Hard copies of documentation and a submission box will also be available at the Council Service Centre at 101 Wakefield Street and the Island Bay Community Centre.

A site visit by councillors is being planned for the 1st week of consultation. Councillors will be supported by officers and engineers so they can get a fuller understanding of the implications of each option. This visit will not include participation with stakeholders or groups.

A facebook event is planned for the 2nd week, of which we are still working through the details.

The working party and officers are available to attend stakeholder group meetings on invitation. We are attending a meeting of the Island Bay Residents Association on 31 July, and Cycle Aware meeting on 1 August. We understand there is also interest from other stakeholders – to be worked through.
 
The results of this consultation will be presented to the City Strategy Committee on 14 September 2017. The Council (Mayor and Councillors) will consider the consultation feedback along with the outcomes of the Love the Bay process, NZTA and engineering best practice and guidelines, budgetary implications, and council strategy when making their decision.
 
The Council will then agree on the preferred option with the intention for implementation to begin in spring 2017. Implementation will require detailed design and construction plans for the entire length of The Parade. A traffic resolution and accompanying consultation will also be required before construction can get underway, a process scheduled for late 2017/early 2018. The detailed design phase may also identify quick wins and small improvements that could be implemented before the traffic resolution is agreed by Council.
 
It needs to be reinforced that the consultation submission process is not a vote that will solely determine the outcome – however it does aim to give councillors a good sense of people’s preferences and feedback on options. Ultimately councillors will consider a broad range of information (including feedback from the many different communities interested in the outcome), decide what weight they apply to officers’ recommendations and hold responsibility for the final decision."

Please note that Saturday's Dominion Post story Final chance for Wellingtonians to have their say on future of Island Bay cycleway contained numerous errors and contradictory statements by councillors. The information above is correct and has been confirmed in a clarifying media release by WCC ​Island Bay cycleway consultation: clarifications.