The Wellington City Council by-election is heating up, with local businessman Karl Tiefenbacher now in the running.

Tiefenbacher, who owns popular coffee shop, Kaffee Eis, announced this morning he will contest the vacant seat in the Pukehinau / Lambton ward.

He unsuccessfully ran for the same ward last year, on a platform of scrapping the golden mile project, and focusing on infrastructure over "pet projects".

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