The Wānaka Community Board (WCB) last Thursday approved a new four hour time limit on parking at the Roy’s Bay Marina.

The marina car park accommodates a range of activities and operators on Lake Wānaka, but the ability for the public to park within the unmarked spaces has resulted in the parks being used by construction workers on the Wānaka Lakefront Development Plan project and other non-reserve users all day, from the early morning. As a result, parking has not been available for marina users for over a year, affecting tour operators such as Wānaka Water Taxis and Wānaka Eco Tours as well as the Wānaka Lakes Coastguard.

The proposed parking restriction was designed to discourage all day parking, and was one of the suggestions put forward to Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) by a group of marina operators last year, along with allowing one vehicle per operator to park in the unmade section of the car park - reserved for boat trailers - outside of the busy Christmas holiday period. 

Krystle Theunissen, owner/operator of Wānaka Water Taxis, said the new restrictions were “a step in the right direction” and the four-hour limit was well-suited to tour operators whose trips took three to four hours at a time. However, she and others - including marina director and coastguard volunteer Mike Barker - believed there was still more that could be done, especially in regards to opening up the gravel areas for parking in off-peak times. 

Parks and Reserves Planner Alex Jamieson confirmed that approved restrictions would be enforced once appropriate signage and markings were installed. She anticipated this would take up to two weeks. 

Read edition 1004 of the Wānaka Sun here.