Protect Princes Wharf Colonnaded Public Spaces

I have written at length about Auckland's Princes Wharf.

There isn't much use crying over split milk - but we do need to learn from what happened and ensure the same mistakes are not made again. I say "mistakes" advisedly, because there were some major winners on Princes Wharf, alongside the major losers. The private developer did very well and so did Ports of Auckland Ltd which pocketed a tidy sum in exchange for selling the leases.

It was the public that lost - despite the fact Princes Wharf was a public asset - and my research suggests that incremental losses in public amenity are continuing today, as you will see toward the end of this post. But first some relevant introduction....

Significant blog postings include:

• Princes Wharf Planning: Pocket History
• How sad is Princes Wharf (Part 1)?
• How Sad is Princes Wharf? (Part 2)
• Princes Wharf Today: How it happened...
• Parking Takes Princes Wharf Public Accessway

I want to be a little bit constructive in this post, mainly because I - and many others - are not ready to completely give up on Princes Wharf. Something needs to be rescued from the wreakage.

When Clinton Bird was retained by Auckland Regional Council to advise commissioners on resource consent conditions that would allow the proposed Hilton Hotel and apartment development to go ahead, he put as his Number 1 Recommendation for conditions:

(i) (the certifier recommends that the application for resource consent be appropved, subject to the following conditions).... the applicant giving the ARC an undertaking that all colonnade spaces between the exterior wall of individual tenancies and the outer face of the columns supporting the first floor, around the entire perimeter edge of the development and along both sides of the central street be given over to the exclusive and uninterrupted use of the general public, in perpetuity.....

These are strong words: an undertaking....all colonnade spaces... entire perimeter edge... exclusive and uninterrupted use of the general public.... in perpetuity...

These words were largely carried forward into the resource consent permit by ARC (dated 3 March 1998), where they can be found at condition 12:

(12) All colonnade spaces between the exterior wall of individual tenancies and the outer face of the columns supporting the first upper level, around the entire perimeter edge of the development and along both sides of the central street, shall be set aside as an accessway for the use of the public.

You can see the toning down of these words, but the meaning and intention is clear.

This picture was taken a few days ago, in the central street, and clearly shows the existence of a public accessway, between  the exterior walls and the outer faces of the colonnades. You can see a pot plant a little way along - but apart from that the space is being used in accordance with the resource consent conditions.

This picture is at the end of Princes Wharf, and shows again that the open public accessway space between interior walls and colonnades has been respected at deck level. You'd have to say that the space is not that well looked after in terms of being a paved square - and this is partly explained by the ambiguity that exists over whose space this is, and who controls it and looks after it on behalf of the public.

This picture is also at the end of Princes Wharf, but across the "central street" from the picture above. It's the side of Princes Wharf that is opposite Queens Wharf. Here you can see the colonnaded area has been enclosed in now appears to be under the sole use of an operator known as Bellini's coffee. You can see the low hedging used to delineate the space which is no longer a public accessway....

And speaking of hedging, at the Quay Street end of Princes Wharf, not only does the space between the colonnaded areas get taken over by the adjacent land use, but the hedging moves right out into the space that was originally deemed public....

Here is another view of that hedge. The employee is out bright and shiney, carrying tables and chairs that further privatise this space - and given their proximity to the hedge - make walking even close to the hedge the sort of experience that most pedestrians would prefer to avoid - unless of course they were looking for a place for lunch....

Here's that hedging again, and in the foreground you can see the raised paving that has been established....

Will I, won't I.....

Meanwhile, on the other side of Princes Wharf, a certain amount of redevelopment has been underway. You can see the barriers in the middle of this picture....

Getting closer, you can see the sign: "New Offices for Sale or Lease....", this relates to level 1 perhaps, but what is happening at ground level here....?

Taking a peek behind the barriers, something is revealed....

The ASPEC sign reads: "Shed 19 INFILL...."

That's how you describe infill - between colonnades, of public space, whichever spaces are being expropriated for commercial purposes.

Who gives permission for this incremental loss and decay of public amenity....? Why is it happening?

And who pockets the proceeds...?