Funny thing happened at the waterfront...

This is a wee story about what's happening down at the Viaduct. Or what's planned to happen at the Wynyard Quarter edge of Viaduct Harbour.

Just to orient you first, here's a general picture of that part of the Auckland waterfront:


You can see Auckland Harbour Bridge in the background, and Wynyard Quarter or TankFarm in the middle distance, with Te Wero Island in the bottom right of the picture. On the Eastern edge of Wynyard Quarter you can see the America's Cup bases. Here's a closer picture of them:


On the right is where Team New Zealand was located, then there was Alinghi, and Oracle and so on. Those pictures were taken a few years ago.

However, during the recent Louis Vuitton regatta, these buildings were well used, and so was the big apron of land between those base buildings and the Viaduct Harbour. In fact it was regularly packed with interested members of the public....

So what's the big deal? Well, Auckland Regional Holdings - under ARC direction - is still keen on "optimising return" from this land, and recently presented to ARC its idea of what should go on the land where the America's Cup bases currently stand. They want to put a hotel there - believe it or not. There are advanced plans to replace the America's Cup syndicate base buildings, and that wonderful big public space in front, with a 27 metre high hotel. And there will be a 10 metre wide public access strip in front. ARC was only told about this towards the end of last year. Even Cllr Walbran seemed to be surprised.

Here is their artistic impression of that idea:

The white thing sticking forward in the middle is where the proposed Te Wero Bridge is proposed, crossing from Te Wero Island to Jellicoe Street.

You can see how wide that 10 metre access strip would be, and how dominated it would be by the proposed hotel frontage. It would feel much like that eastern side of Princes Wharf, which is dominated by the Hilton Hotel building and apartments. I suppose there's some consistency because Cllr Walbran was one of the commissioners who consented that Hilton project, and now he's on the boards of Sea + City and ARH. My concern is that Auckland will lose something really precious, a special amenity, if this is allowed to happen. Why do we allow history to repeat itself?

And this is where it gets funny. In early 2005 the joint Political Liaison Group of the Auckland City Council and the Auckland Regional Council consulted the public on what should happen down there. It was a widely publicised consultation. By the closing date sometime round the end of March 2005, 851 public submissions had been received. Of these 7.3% said they lived in the waterfront, 17.5 worked in the waterfront area, 63.5 lived in Auckland City, 21.4% lived outside Auckland City but in the Greater Auckland region, and 1.4% were visitors.

The results of this survey were then reported to both Councils.

Just 9 specific questions were asked in the survey.

Question 5 asked: "How strongly do you support or oppose some of the future options for the former America's Cup bases?"

Respondents were given 6 options to choose between: Marine Events Centre; Marine services activity; Open public space; Education; Residential development; Office and commercial development. The key results are summarised here:

• 77% of respondents supported or strongly supported Open Public Space.


• 65% of respondents supported or strongly supported Marine Events centre.


• But - only 13% / 12% supported or strongly supported Residential development / Office and commercial development respectively.


• And underlining that - 61% / 63% strongly opposed or opposed Residential development / Office and commercial development respectively.

Now, you might ask: but they didn't ask about hotels. True. But the effects on people using public space are much the same. It would be like another Westin Hotel with all the same reverse senstivity and dominance effects. In case you don't believe me about the survey, I have scanned the publicly reported results of this question, and you can download it yourself here: http://www.joelcayford.com/AkWfrontbasesopinionsurvey.jpg

So. What can be done to deliver an outcome supported by the public of Auckland?

Right now, submissions are being prepared for the inevitable appeal of Plan Change 4, promulgated by Auckland City Council, and which provides for this change of use on what is known as Quarter 7 (oddly) of the Wynyard Quarter. Auckland Regional Council is finalising its appeal documentation. So is Auckland Regional Holdings (ARH) - still driven by the directive to "optimise revenue". You'd think ARC might give some regard to what the public wants in its submission. You could ask your ARC Councillor what he or she thinks....

When the ARC committee discussed what should be on our submission about this we were rightly advised we could only raise matters already covered in our main submission to the plan change. That's the law. Tweedeldee sat quiet in the corner because he's also on the Board of Sea + City - and ARH for that matter. But Tweedledee opined that ARC had "known about this Hotel project for years....". News to me, and many others round that table.

You can bet your bottom dollar that ARH will be pushing for that Hotel at the appeal with all its energy and resources, while ARC is there wondering how far it can go, pushing in the opposite direction - given the public mandate it sought....

This is another funny thing. ARH is totally owned and governed by ARC. You'd think both institutions might sing from the same song sheet. Something for the Royal Commission to ponder upon.