No-parking lines painted at night

Residents in a Wellington cul-desac are bewildered after a city council contractor painted broken yellow lines under their cars in the street at night.

The contractor was spotted on security cameras at 8.40pm making the controversial markings in Donald Cres in Karori. Locals said they had no warning the work was taking place and no instruction to move their vehicles.

The clandestine operation is the latest episode in a parking saga that has divided the quiet street and left some neighbours not speaking to one another.

It started with the council’s decision to remove eight parking spaces. Trees on a road reserve had been growing outwards, forcing parked cars further into the road and making access for larger vehicles difficult. Rubbish was not picked up on the western side of the street on some occasions, prompting residents to ask the council to cut the trees back.

Instead, the council removed the parking which resident Peter Lambrechtsen described as ‘‘blunt edged’’ and sparking parking wars in the street.

‘‘We have lost about a third of the on-street parking, because two neighbours were grumpy about the rubbish not being picked up.’’

Council spokesperson Richard Maclean said any insinuation the council was doing ‘‘something sneaky’’ was ‘‘just wrong’’.

Tensions around parking have reached such a peak that one resident allegedly resorted to painting their own broken yellow lines near their driveway to better access their property.

Janet Boutel, one of the residents whose rubbish was not collected, said she had hosted meetings between residents in an attempt to find an agreement.

‘‘They have been civil and the majority agreed to cut the trees before deciding on yellow lines – and if the council had come to cut the trees last November, as they said they would, we would not be having this discussion.’’

Boutel said the issue had caused friction, with tempers flaring and some neighbours refusing to speak to one another.

Lambrechtsen agreed, saying there were problems with the council consultation process.

‘‘To me, the problem is that the council process is broken,’’ Lambrechtsen said. Boutel said that when she attended a consultation meeting on April 6, she and fellow residents left feeling unheard. ‘‘You get your five minutes, which is barely enough time to make your point, and when council responds, you have no right of reply.’’

Maclean said contractors did not have to provide prior notice of road painting. ‘‘One problem of giving prior notice is that people opposed to the work will likely leave their vehicles parked in the street to frustrate the work. We are allowed to paint roads when vehicles are parked.’’

He acknowledged the yellow lines outside one property were not supposed to be there and had been blacked out.

‘‘We removed the broken yellow lines in front of [that property] because they had not been painted according to a traffic resolution. It is possible they were painted without the involvement of the council.’’

Maclean said on-street parking hindered access for emergency vehicles and that consultation with residents about the broken yellow lines happened in February. ‘‘The response was roughly 50/50 in favour/against the proposal and councillors voted in April to go ahead.’’