I Have Noted Two Polar Articles in the Manukau Courier Today

 

One For THAT Bridge

 

One Against THAT Bridge

 

 

I was reading through the Manukau Courier after I noticed a Twitter message about the Karaka-Weymouth Bridge. I caught two particular articles on the bridge with a follow-up in the Papakura Courier tomorrow. The two articles were:

• A bridge too far?

• Homegrown housing plan

Now both articles were done by the same reporter and most likely on the same page of the paper edition 😛

 

But you see two very opposing points of view to both Karaka North/West developments and the Karaka-Weymouth Bridge.

 

In the “A bridge too far?” article you will read Dene Andre’s position on the bridge and why he and the residents of Weymouth (and Karaka) are against the development and bridge.

From the article:

A sleepy coastal community will be ripped in two if a proposed bridge across the Manukau Harbour goes ahead, residents say. The bridge would start at the tip of Weymouth Peninsula and cross the Pahurehure Inlet to Karaka. It would then allow for a four-to-six lane transport corridor linking the Southwestern Motorway to Karaka via Roscommon and Weymouth Roads. The bridge was pencilled in as an addendum to the Unitary Plan after a collective of Karaka landowners approached Auckland Council regarding extending the Rural Urban Boundary. The landowners want to develop new housing and communities on their side of the harbour. But Weymouth residents are against the bridge idea, saying it would turn their sleepy community into a thoroughfare and split the peninsula through the middle. They’re worried about the impact it would have on their lives, the harbour and the health of those living closest to the proposed highway. “It’d be worse than making people compulsory smokers,” resident Dene Andre says. He is one of 100 concerned residents who attended a meeting about the bridge last Thursday with deputy mayor Penny Hulse and the council’s Unitary Plan team. Mr Andre demanded head planner Penny Pirrit define the council’s interpretation of liveability and reminded planners tasked with turning Auckland into the world’s most liveable city that this meant more than just building houses and enabling more people to move into an area. A bridge in Weymouth would send the suburb in the opposite direction, Mr Andre says. Lives would be cut short by pollution and many residents would be likely to experience chronic and debilitating illnesses associated with respiratory problems and heart conditions, he says. The former chairman of Forest and Bird South Auckland is also concerned the transport link will drive away flourishing wildlife at the end of the peninsula.

Mrs Pirrit says the bridge isn’t even in the current plan and the plan zoned land in Karaka as rural coastal and rural production. “There are no plans proposed in the Unitary Plan at the moment. “When I say currently, I mean currently in our draft unitary plan because it is not the final Unitary Plan and depending on what feedback and the consideration the councillors give the zoning of large parts of Auckland, it might change. “I don’t mean tomorrow we are going to suddenly change the draft plan.”

…

ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

Urban development in Karaka West would make the Weymouth-Karaka bridge “a very real option”, an Auckland Transport planner says. That statement was made at a Karaka Resident and Ratepayers Association meeting last week when council planners were questioned about how they plan to expand the city’s Rural Urban Boundary in the south to fit in another 55,000 homes over the next 30 years. Karaka, Drury and Pukekohe are all being investigated as options for development in the draft Unitary Plan but a group of Karaka landowners is calling for the council to prioritise their area for growth. The Karaka Collective group says it makes economic and environmental sense to develop Karaka’s greenfields, with a bridge from the Urquhart Peninsula in western Karaka to Weymouth the ideal way to link Franklin with the rest of the city and help unclog State Highway 1.

Council transport planner Joshua Arbury says the bridge is “the elephant in the room” for any discussion of growth in the south. “Even if we were to go with a different option and avoid Karaka West and Karaka North, you may find that at some point in the future you still need the bridge.” A show of hands for and against the bridge was shut down by chairman Steve Bird who said the meeting had been called to discuss many aspects of the Unitary Plan rather than focusing on the bridge. Mr Bird has invited the Karaka Collective to an upcoming residents’ meeting to look over its proposal in more detail.

…

 

You can read the rest of the article over at the Manukau Courier site.

I have met Dene personally and we have talked at length over this situation. Dene has even commented here on the blog to which I have sent my thanks back in regards. Both Dene and I have been at the Weymouth meetings while I have been at the Karaka meetings as well. I can easily gather the development option and the bridge has rankled residents on both sides and even annoyed Councillors to a great extent as well. I have commented on this – most recently with my “WEYMOUTH AND THAT BRIDGE” which is very extensive in both my views and how to write a submission back on the situations.

 

As for the Karaka Collective they have released this in their Homegrown Housing Plan

From the article (which is a revelation in itself with what is in it):

A bridge across the Pahurehure Inlet will bring positive outcomes to Weymouth residents, the Karaka Collective says. Its spokesman, Peter Fuller, says the reality is that Auckland needs more houses. The collective wants to build them and build them right, he says. “Auckland has a severe housing crisis which causes significant social and economic problems including childhood illnesses such as rheumatic fever. “The new settlement opportunity the collective is promoting will provide much-needed houses and jobs for the people of Counties Manukau,” he says. It might not be welcomed by people who already own a house or a bach by the beach but it will be welcomed by South Aucklanders living in bedrooms who can’t afford to buy a house in the current climate, Mr Fuller says.

Current housing planning models “which rely on northern hemisphere thinking” are not the way to go. “We are looking at a Polynesian city, we have got a Maori culture – why aren’t we designing and doing things that are more appropriate, rather than just borrowing the urban forms from overseas?” The collective’s vision for Karaka is “living lightly on the land”. Cultural interpretation would be woven into the design so that development is grounded in the local environment and community. Soft engineering processes would be used to achieve better environmental performance and a lower carbon footprint. The Manukau Harbour should become cleaner because of that approach and the resultant removal of runoff and sediment caused by farming in the area. Wildlife would also flourish.

“We think that as a result of this development process there will be more biodiversity, more public spaces and better habitats for wildlife than there are at the moment,” Mr Fuller says. “There are some areas of that land that are in conservation management and we would be looking to protect those areas and extend them.” The collective’s ideas are only in the planning stages and will take years to come to fruition if they’re accepted, he says. It would need a supporting multi-modal transport corridor and the bridge would have walking and cycling lanes, and rail alongside traffic lanes.

The bridge could just be single lanes with a walkway at first but would be future-proofed to allow more lanes and public transport to be added. The $647 million six-lane motorway suggested for the route back in 2006 is not part of the proposal, Mr Fuller says.

Instead a limited speed arterial route similar to Ti Rakau Dr and Highbrook Dr has been costed at $213m.

…

But he is looking forward to discussing Weymouth residents’ concerns and talking to them about the potential benefits for their community.

-ends-

 

I am definitely looking forward to such a particular meeting – regardless from the fact I am from Papakura; it is that I can hear the residents concerns and relate to them knowing the exact same situation I face with Mill Road at my end!

 

That article however from the Karaka Collective was typical PR type piece. I have noted their transport bits which should mortify just about anyone in Karaka, Weymouth, Clendon, Homai and Manurewa which are in red text. A 6.457km (from the bottom of Weymouth Road to the State Highway 20 / Cavendish Drive interchange) 4-lane + walkway + cycleway + railway? rat runner of a transit route which the bridge if built and to its fullest extent would cause; and then there is the bridge at 1.25km long to boot as well.

I do have the information from the Karaka Collective that they sent in regards to their submission, it can be found in my “KARAKA COLLECTIVE SHARES” post.

 

In the same regard to what has come about now, I have commented extensively on my thoughts of this situation and my full alternative to the Karaka Collective’s idea. In brief it was:

IN SHORT THIS I WHAT I WILL BE SUBMITTING:

• Oppose the Weymouth-Karaka Bridge due to:
  • Rat running down Weymouth Road and Roscommon Road to and from State Highways One and 22
  • Lower amenity and safety of the Karaka and Weymouth Communities
  • Increased air and noise pollution
• Oppose the RUB Option allowing Karaka North and West to be built
• As an alternative I support the Transport Corridor Option in developing the RUB providing
  • • A green belt maintained between Pukekohe and Paerata
    • New waste water treatment plant is built
    • That transit link over the Inlet is not built
    • What was labelled Karaka North and West either be allowed to be converted to Lifestyle blocks or even better a regional reserve seeming wading birds live in those areas
    • And that Auckland Transport will build the Drury and Paerata Mass Transit Interchanges (rail and bus station, and park and ride)

 

Now while I will flesh this out in a full submission you can see that:

• I have opposed a RUB option and the bridge
• Given my reasons why I oppose it
• Chose another RUB option more suitable and avoids the bridge situation
• Reasons why I chose that RUB option
• Conditions and extras to be considered if this RUB option is taken (regional park and proper public transport)

…

From my WEYMOUTH AND THAT BRIDGE post

 

I basically (as does Weymouth) await Karaka Collective to hold a meeting with Weymouth and Karaka residents to explain themselves why they are putting forward the option as they are. BR:AKL will keep you posted and developments on this continue

 

Also you can catch some other commentary from me and others at my “SOME COMMENTS AND REFLECTIONS” including a request to Council and Auckland Transport to undertake extensive modelling on the Southern RUB and THAT bridge:

The conclusion I drew from this (and while I have my preferences to which RUB option and all that) is that Council and AT should (even before the consultation round starts with the RUB next month) is to put together a very comprehensive report into each of the three Southern RUB options on the table currently. In that report it should have: