Events & Promotions

Dominion Road Business Association Inc.
Annual General Meeting

12.00pm, 30 August 2011

Valentines Restaurant

Please click to view the following documents:

2011-2012 Business Plan

Indicitive 2012-2013 Budget

Agenda

 

Submission by the Eden Valley Mainstreet & Business Association Inc. to the Auckland City Council regarding Proposed Changes to Dominion Road.

Eden Valley Mainstreet Business Association Inc
MBE M 325
Private Bag 92132
Victoria St West
Auckland1142
 
28 July 2010
 
Submission Feedback regarding the proposed Dominion Rd – better for everyone
 
Eden Valley Mainstreet Business Association operates as an incorporated society representing 135 businesses and 49 commercial property owners. Eden Valley is one of 16 Mainstreet and Business Improvement Districts (BID) programmes operating within the boundary of Auckland City Council.
The Mainstreet programme as defined by Auckland City Council in the Mainstreet Policy 2003 as follows:
The Mainstreet 5-point programme contributes to Auckland City’s economic, social, environmental and cultural wellbeing. Mainstreets are locally based economic development initiatives specifically around commercial localities, usually traditional and industry based strip-shopping areas. The formation of Mainstreet Management Committees is premised upon the understanding that place-based problems and issues demand place-based  responses. It enables action by people to improve their local area while creating an effective partnership with Council. The aim is to retain and vitalise town centre areas as vibrant community based places where people meet, live, work and play.
The policy continues:
Mainstreet programmes are not “quick fix” solutions. They are based on incremental success and community involvement. Basic objectives of the programme are an enhanced physical environment, business creation and development and increased employment and local business investment. In addition to being business development programmes they also involve community development and heritage conservation. The programme is intended to identify and reinforce the unique identity of a place (and its history) and to promote that identity as part of its development.
 
The Eden Valley Mainstreet Business Association Inc has been operating as a Mainstreet programme since 2000. The majority of our businesses are locally owned and operated providing local employment.
By design our Business Association includes members from both East and West sides of Dominion Rd and we have one of the busiest intersections; Valley and Walters Rd.
 
Our submission is as follows:
1A Overall feedback
Our members whole heartily oppose the suggested proposal because it appears short sighted regarding the affect it will have on our local economy of Dominion Rd. The proposal negates the intension of our Mainstreet programme and is counterproductive to principles of the Auckland City Council Mainstreet Policy that we bought into when we first began and continue to promote each and every year. We feel this proposal will have a negative impact on our local businesses and community welling being. This is not an ‘enhancement’ or ‘improvement’. Our members believe there are other options available for the purposes of improving passenger transport along Dominion Rd.
 
1B Bus lane/T2 lane
We oppose the implementation of a T2 lane. There is no evidence that a bus lane and T2 lane can operate efficiently within one lane. As buses stop at bus stops to let people on and off so too will the T2 vehicles have to stop behind the bus, thus forcing the T2 cars to ‘bunny-hop’ out of the T2 lane into the vehicle lane and back out to get around the buses.  This we believe will cause more congestion and add more time to the bus trip providing no added benefit to the existing arrangement of the bus lane only.
Existing Bus lanes have a number of other uses such as cycles, mopeds and motorbikes. This group will be impacted on by the T2 vehicles.
 
1C T2 lane operating times
Not relevant as we oppose the operation of a T2 lane, see above.
 
1E Cycle Lane
We oppose the addition of a separate cycle lane as we believe there isn’t a sufficient number of cyclists’ using Dominion Rd. We believe the addition of a separate cycle lane will be to the detriment of local businesses. It will come down to either a separate cycle lane of on road car parking, not both.
The addition of a separate cycle lane will reduce the footpath widths to 1.5m in the mid blocks and also affect the footpath widths though the town centre. This doesn’t fit with the Council’s stated Future Planning Framework plans for Dominion Rd mixed use and apartments. Again our pedestrians will have to balance themselves on narrower footpaths placing them right alongside cyclist and buses putting both the safety of cyclists and pedestrians at risk. Where does the cyclist go when someone steps off the kerb? – swerve right into line of a travelling ?
 
1F Right hand turn restrictions
We oppose the implementation of right hand turn restrictions along Dominion Rd as there are insufficient connecting roads to allow the people to get to where they are going. By restricting right hand turns you are stopping the traffic from flowing and dispersing away from Dominion Rd in the direction they wish to travel. Instead you are forcing them away from their desired direction, travelling and frustrating them further. This will encourage rash and dangerous manoeuvres up and down Dominion Rd. You must remember the adjacent roads lead onto other main arterial roads which filter the congestion.
Removing the right hand turn into Ewington Rd leaves only one north bound entrance into Eden Quarter and busy Foodtown via Valley Rd. However Valley Rd intersection can only stack 2 vehicles in the right turning lane and causing major congestion. There is no other direct route into Eden Quarter when travelling north along Dominion Rd.
Right hand turn restrictions will greatly affect our businesses as many of the side road car parking is located in the side roads and or provides access to other businesses and services. Customers will not be able to get to these car parks and thus won’t stop.
 
1G Parking removal
We and our members strongly oppose the removal of all car parking along Dominion Rd. The suggestion that there will be ‘plenty of parking will still be available on side streets and in the shopping areas’ is both misleading and misguided. Many of these side streets are already full with cars including those who leave their car parked all day in our side streets while they catch the bus into town for work. Shoppers already use the side streets causing the side streets to be at full capacity most times. The shopping areas are also at full capacity. There is no provision to replace the car parks removed from Dominion Rd thus adding more pressure and demand onto our side streets.
 
The value of a Dominion Rd car park
There is anecdotal evidence that local customers stop and shop; if they can’t stop they pass on by onto another shopping centre. Once out of the habit of stopping and shopping locally, customers will take on a new pattern deserting the original local shop for a more ‘convenient’ stopping environment. 48% of our customers come from our local community; that is from within a 2-3km radius.
On average we have observed the Dominion Rd car parks can turn over 15 times per day with an average customer stop of 25 minutes. Using our average Eden Valley customer spend according to our latest BNZ Marketview Quarterly Report for July 2010; which for the month is $55.10. Using these figures we can estimate that one car park can generate a potential income for our businesses of $826.50 per day; equalling $4959 per week and $257,868.00 per year all for our local economy – remember now that’s per car park. Removing the parking will result in a huge amount of money lost from our community, a lost that would be redistributed to other nearby more convenient shopping centres.
 
            The street environment of our town centre
Removing the car parking from Dominion Rd will change the environment of our street and our local town centre.

• No longerwould there be a buffer of stationary cars protecting the pedestrian from the rush of air and exhaust.
• No longerwould it be safe to wander and window shop without noise and large moving buses next to you.
• No longerwould it be pleasant to stroll Dominion Rd without fear of being sucked into the rush of buses and cars that will be heading hell-for-leather along Dominion Rd.
• No longerwould you want to sit with a coffee soaking up the local vibe with exhaust fumes pumped directly into their face.
• And no amount of courage would be enough to cross an uninterrupted four lane street from one side of Dominion Rd to the other?

 
The removal of car parking along Dominion Rd would turn the road into a four lane motorway, permitting all vehicles (including buses) to increase their speed so instead of the current calm but busy road that travels at 40-50kms we will have heavy footed drivers travelling 50-60kms. Why wouldn’t you travel at this speed when the bustle of street life, cars parking, pedestrians and delivery trucks has been removed from your track?
 
None of this creates good cultural and economic well being for our businesses and community. It certainly doesn’t aim to retain and vitalise our town centre area as a vibrant community based places where people meet, live, work and play.
 
Gone will be our pedestrians, gone would be their spending and gone would be any future commercial investment.
 
1H Other comments
Our local economy is crucial to our local community, many of our local business owners live local, employ locals and many carve out a living working long hours providing a valuable service.
What impact on our economy will this proposal make?
What evidence is there that this proposal will be good for businesses?
We feel that this proposal will mean disaster to our businesses and this wouldn’t be good for Auckland.
 
 
Our proposal
We suggest that there are other options to better improve Dominion Rd passenger transportation. We on behalf of our members are encouraging Council to give consideration to the following options and compromising solutions. We would be happy to work with Council on these more sensible alternatives.
 

1. Extend the bus lane hours from 4pm - 6pm to 4pm to 6pm+ where we’re prepared to consider a sensible evening peak time beyond 6pm. This would allow an extended time for the high frequency buses to commute along Dominion Rd away from the city.

 

1. Leave the shared bus and cycle lane operating together.

 

1. Extend the bus only lanes into all intersections along Dominion Rd, both north and south bound. This would allow the buses to have a clear and free flowing run along Dominion Rd. It would allow for more buses per hour to travel and thus meet and promote an increase in passenger transport numbers. This would also allow cyclists to have a clear and unimpeded run along Dominion Rd.

 

1. Reconfigure the traffic light intersections to permit left hand turns, thus allow private vehicles wishing to turn left though a bus lane can without waiting resulting in there being no hold up for the buses at each intersection.

 

1. Install early bus/cycle traffic lightsallowing the buses and cyclists to exit the intersection first and get on their way before the other vehicles. There may need to be some consideration to installing a barn dance crossing to facilitate this.

 
Lastly we request that all designations currently on commercial property along Dominion and neighbouring roads which was applied for under the provision of the transport corridor be removed. Our business and property owners need certainty after over 10 years of waiting and watching for this transport corridor to be ratified. Many have lots thousands of dollars because of reduced property values or by rental restrictions due to the designation.
 
Eden Valley Mainstreet Business Association Inc understands that Dominion Rd is an important corridor for Auckland but we also believe our suggested practical improvements would result in better traffic flow and passenger transportation along Dominion Rd.
 
But best of all it will install confidence in our businesses and create a desire to work on a positive economic future for Dominion Rd.
 
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Chris Hammonds
Chair
EdenValleyMainstreet Business Association