One lane or two lanes? It's an issue that's divided Te Puke cleaner than the tree-dotted island that runs down the middle of the town's main street.
And two locals – one an incumbent councillor and the other an ousted councillor – are squaring off over the $1 million-plus plan to single-lane the main street, reducing it from two lanes to one.
And caught in the middle, the town's business leaders who have adopted a conciliatory ‘wait and see attitude'. But they're sceptical.
'The community has had an opportunity to comment,” says former councillor and past mainstreet retailer Karyl Gunn-Thomas.
She refers an analysis on commuter numbers and effects, which was investigated by traffic experts and reported back to the Te Puke Project Control Group, the community board, Western Bay of Plenty District Council and its ratepayers.
'Two out of three community responses supported the proposal, as did councillors who voted 9-2 in favour before the elections,” says Karyl.
Despite those numbers re-elected Maketu-Te Puke ward councillor Kevin Marsh says the majority of people he represents don't want a single lane through the main street.
Not only does he want to re-litigate the issue, the six-term councillor has indicated he will file a Notice of Motion at WBOPDC's first meeting of this triennium to stop the proposal in its tracks.
'I'm very concerned,” says Karyl. 'If the work stops and the process is reversed it will most likely be at the ratepayers' expense.”
Kevin didn't want to discuss the matter with The Weekend Sun. 'I will discuss it in the first meeting of council.”
The change of council may indicate a change of attitude and Kevin, from Pongakawa, will file his Notice of Motion to reverse the decision.
What has split the town is the proposal to reduce the two through-lanes in the main street to one lane. The other lane would enable angle parked cars to back out and merge into traffic.
There will be double lanes in and out of the roundabouts and an additional roundabout at Belcher Ave, plus a couple of extra pedestrian crossings.
But there will also be money spent on aesthetics, sprucing up the main street – low growing planting, new rubbish bins, refurbished light standards, seating, bike stands and at no cost to the ratepayer. 'It'll transform the ambience of Te Puke into a destination town making it safer for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians,” says Karyl.
She may no longer be a councillor but she was a retailer in the main street and a keen observer. She witnesses dozens of accidents involving motorists backing out of their angle parks directly into the traffic flow.
The issue has been investigated by experts and Karyl says ratepayers and council have spoken.
Work on the main street project has already begun and Karyl says to stop it now would be foolish. 'There will be a need for patience as there will be some changing of the roading configuration and therefore a period of adjustment.”
Sitting quietly non-committal at this stage is the Te Puke Economic Development Group. Although, CEO Mark Boyle says throughout the whole planning process they had grave concerns.
'Historically, they trialled the one lane and it failed, failed terribly. Traffic backed up for miles at both ends of town, so it was a disaster.”
It was a headache, according to Kevin. 'Traffic couldn't get through the town full-stop.”
But TPEDG has taken the view that the plan, ‘Option 3', is a compromise. 'It will allow the council to revert to the current system in the event the new system doesn't work,” says Mark. 'The saving grace is we can go back if it fails.”
'We had concerns from the get go and we still do.”