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First stage of Whitianga Town Centre upgrade starting 2017

FIRST STAGE OF WHITIANGA TOWN CENTRE UPGRADE STARTING IN 2017.

The first stage of the Town Centre development will be an upgrade of Albert St, Whitianga's main street from Campbell St through to Hannan Rd (see map) with construction planned to start in Autumn 2017, and done in sections to avoid as much disruption as possible to businesses.

"We've met with retailers, local businesses, the Mercury Bay Community Board, iwi and other stakeholders to brief them on the plans and give a general overview of Stage One and the proposed construction timeframes," says Mercury Bay Area Manager Allan Tiplady. "We have planned to do the work in the off-peak 2017 autumn/winter/spring season so it's completed by summer 2017-18 and avoid as much disruption as possible to businesses and the public."

No businesses will have to shut down at any time during the works, but there will be temporary road closures in place along some sections of the road during some periods of the construction. This is while we do the below ground work which includes replacing existing water/stormwater pipes and laying the pipework which will allow for the copper fibre for ultrafast broadband to be installed in the future.

"The design of the main street also makes it more pedestrian and accessibility friendly and allows for more al-fresco style dining to be made available to the cafes and restaurants," says Mr Tiplady. "This means some sections of footpaths along Albert St will be widened from 3-4metres to 10m and car parking encouraged to side streets off Albert St."

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"We have let local businesses know that there could be up to 59 car parks that will go from the main street, but we're proposing an additional 51 parks be created on the side streets," says Mr Tiplady

"One of the concerns from our retail business owners is of course the potential lack of parking in the town centre and while TCDC are committed to finding extra spaces close to town we and our members can also help by having the retail owners and their employees park on one of the side streets rather than right outside their stores," says Mercury Bay Business Association Chair Gary Fitzsimons. "This could in effect free up to 40 parking spaces for visitors and shoppers plus the extra options from Council, we could actually end with more spaces around town than we currently have and all within easy walking distance." he says

Meanwhile the main street will still be able to accommodate boats and larger vehicles, however signage will be encouraging these vehicles to avoid the main street and use other street routes to get to petrol stations and the Esplanade boat ramp. We're also starting work on upgrading two existing boat ramps to accommodate more recreational users just slightly out of the town centre.

Meanwhile a town square/plaza space is also being created at the top of Taylor's Mistake which will lead visitors to wander down through Taylor's Mistake through to The Esplanade.

"In Taylor's Mistake we want to encourage more events and use of this public space, so along with the development of the town plaza/square, we are looking at play pieces scattered through this area, which leads people to walk down to The Esplanade and the existing playground there," says Mr Tiplady. "Meanwhile the skate ramp will remain on its existing site while we look at options longer-term for a skate park site."

Stage 2 (Taylor's Mistake down to The Esplanade) and Stage 3 (The Esplanade) will be undertaken 2018 to 2019 to ensure the majority of the work is completed by the end of 2019 to tie in with the 250 year commemorations since Captain Cook landed at Mercury Bay. YOU CAN READ MORE ABOUT THE COOK 250 PROJECT HERE.

"The Town upgrade will also have a navigation theme based on the Kupe and Cook link to the heritage of our area, so we are working with iwi and the local artistic community about how to incorporate these concepts through public art and other design features," says Mercury Bay Community Board Chair Paul Kelly.

"We're extremely fortunate in Mercury Bay to have such a rich Polynesian and European history which we can draw upon to do this," says Mr Kelly.

In our 2015-2025 Long Term Plan we have $3.45M allocated towards the Town Centre Upgrade. Funding will also come out of existing budgets set aside for infrastructure renewal works needing to be done in Whitianga already.

A report on the Town Centre upgrade will be going to the Mercury Bay Community Board in February 2017 to sign off on the final budget costs and construction plan, before going to Council for final sign off so that physical works can begin.

READ MORE ABOUT THE TOWN CENTRE PROJECT HERE.


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