$68,000 bill for planter boxes but locals want school speed bump

Wednesday, 11 September 2024

Island Bay locals are frustrated at a $68,000 spend on cycleway planter boxes after months of fighting to have a $3000 speed bump installed outside a local primary school to slow down traffic.

Others, however, say it’s money well spent.

Island Bay’s Chris Haughey has spent almost six months trying to get something done about drivers using Clyde St as a “rat run” arguing they are putting children’s lives at risk.

His fight began in April when residents noticed an increase in traffic travelling at higher speeds along the street to avoid road works on the main road.

Haughey took it upon himself to investigate the costs of a cheap solution and found a basic rubber speed hump would cost $2800.

Meetings between council staff and the school principal, and correspondence with deputy mayor Laurie Foon, mayor Tory Whanau, and local MP Julie-Anne Genter followed.

A temporary fix – to install two rubber speed humps – had been confirmed following a meeting with engineers in July. Traffic monitoring was put in place. However, a council spokesperson said last week any decision would still need to go to public consultation and to the regulatory services committee for final sign off.

Haughey is furious at the slow pace of bureaucracy, and even more so after revelations that more than twenty times the amount needed for one of those speed humps has been spent on a recently installed phalanx of planter boxes.

The planters are clustered along a 25m stretch of cycleway that curves into and runs along the footpath outside numbers 546 to 554 Adelaide Rd.

When local Stephen Piper queried the cost last week he was told by a council business adviser in the city design team it was $1847 each, or $31,399 all up.

The as-yet-unplanted planters were used to “more clearly define pedestrian and bike space to keep everyone safe and were covered with reflective details for visibility in the dark and positioned outside the clearly marked white cycleway sidelines”.

However after further inquiries by The Post council spokesperson Richard MacLean admitted this week that all up the planter boxes actually cost $4000 a pop or $68,000, more than twice the original amount.

“What price do they put on kids safety?” Haughey asked.

He said flexible bollards like those used on Brooklyn Hill could have been installed for a fraction of the price of the planters. He was quoted $1930.75 for 20.

Piper was equally irate, calling the spending, which comes at the same time homeowners are facing a a 21% rates rise, a “complete waste of money.”

“Really, there are no words. The council is just haemorrhaging money. It is complete overkill; where is the common sense?”

However, a resident in one of the nearby houses welcomed the new additions, saying complaints about illegal parking and anti-social behaviour in the past might have prompted the work.

“I think it’s a really positive move and a good use of resources. It’s cool that people are able to ride safely, and it seems pretty well used during rush hour.”

Alex Dyer, co-chair of advocacy group Cycle Wellington, agreed. He was “glad to see more place making elements such as these”.

It was important to reflect on where the real (and most sizeable) cost pressures originated, he said, “rather than minor improvements to our streets that make active travel safer and more attractive for people”.

Cyclist Jade Musther, who usually rides to repair jobs towing a large bike trailer noted she can’t use that section of the cycleway because of its sharply angled entrance. She was all for connected lanes but felt a cheaper alternative to the planters might have been a better option.

Criticism of the planters is the latest in a string of controversial council decisions decision and comes just days after it was taken to task for a $560,000 upgrade of a central city lane to accommodate a new bike rack.