Paid parking in Matakana?

Weekend parking fees could be on the cards for the public carpark next to Matakana School, a community group meeting heard on March 3.

Chair Simon Barclay said he’d had an approach “out of the blue” from a private parking company offering to install a licence plate recognition camera and a payment machine for free.

The carpark was built and funded by the local community in 2017, with annual maintenance since paid for by Matakana Community Group (MCG). Although donations towards its upkeep have been encouraged, the carpark has always been free.

Barclay said the parking company had told him the group would be able to decide who exactly paid for parking and when.

“We can control it completely, so for example could set a fee for Saturday and Sunday, but allow people to park for free during the week for school and bus pick-ups,” he said.

“Or you could enter specific number plates to be exempt, such as school staff.”

He said if it went ahead, there would need to be new signage explaining to drivers that all fees collected went to carpark maintenance and community projects.

“It doesn’t go to them, they make their money from collecting fines,” he added.

“There will be people, I’m sure, who don’t agree, but we’re going to get another bill for $2800 for upkeep soon.”

The meeting heard that finding people to direct traffic and collect voluntary fees in the past had been a struggle and the honesty box system wasn’t an effective permanent fundraiser.

Some attendees voiced concerns over how much the company would charge for fines and how aggressive they might be in collecting them.

“Businesses need people coming in. We don’t want to do anything that damages the reputation of Matakana,” one woman said.

Others said the majority of people who used to carpark at weekends were not local and probably used to paying much more for parking than a token weekend rate of, say, $5 for the day.

Barclay encouraged local residents and neighbourhood groups to provide MCG with feedback on the idea.