A group of Waikanae retirement village residents want the Kāpiti Coast District Council to impose lower speed limits or parking restrictions on a nearby road.
By Justin Wong of Local Democracy Reporting
More than 30 residents from the Bishop Snedden Retirement Village signed and presented a petition at Thursday’s council meeting. They wanted a lower speed limit, parking ban in front of two village units or a new pedestrian crossing on a section of Kapanui Rd that borders the village.
They asked the council to consider traffic restrictions because the road was getting congested with vehicles, especially more were parked near intersections with the village and the two units’ driveway.
Resident John Phillips said the parked cars blocked drivers’ line of sight, making it dangerous to drive out from the village or to back out of the driveway to Kapanui Rd. Vehicles needed to edge two metres on to the road to see whether there was any approaching traffic, according to the petition.
Some of the cars were parked there 24/7, Phillips added.
Monica Nicholas, the chairperson of the village’s residents committee, also said the parked cars made it harder for residents – who could be visually impaired or using a walking aid – to cross the road to the local cafe, regular lab appointments or pick up pre-cooked meals.
The petition also argued the road’s speed limit – now set at 50km/h – is too fast for residents to cross the road safely. They wanted the council to reduce it to 40km/h and provide a pedestrian crossing.
“We can’t just see out the road, there are cars parked the whole way up the road,” Nichoals said. “Traffic is quite fast down that road so we're asking them to consider reducing the speed past our village in the same way.
“It really should be treated no different than a school,” Phillips said. “These are vulnerable people.”
The council’s infrastructure and asset management group manager Sean Mallon said, after the residents presented the petition, that officials would follow up the petition and send someone to have a look at the road.
– Local Democracy Reporting is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
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