Category: Urban Planning and Design

Looking at Urban Planning and Design

THE CLUNKER AND ME – The Final Round

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Where Ben is for the Final Round of Unitary Plan Community Meetings

 

Commentary and community meetings continue as The Unitary Plan causes further debate from all sides. I am continuing my jet-setting around the city – although with a main focus closer to home in Southern Auckland and this is where I will be for the final weeks of this round of Unitary Plan feedback.

Please note that while the Unitary Plan feedback closes 31 May; BR:AKL will continue Unitary Plan commentary while TotaRim Consultancy Limited will continue to offer Unitary Plan services to wider Auckland.

 

  • May 6 – Monday: Hawkins Theatre. Papakura is zoned a Metropolitan Centre (18 storeys) and up for some interesting intensification (my home gets rezoned to Mixed Housing – and I am only 100 metres from the northern end of the Metropolitan Zone). Transport is also on the books so how will being a Metropolitan Zone affect Papakura’s transport with motorway interchanges failing us already, the Great South Road still a goat track, the Mill Road Corridor causing grief, and the third busiest rail station – Papakura going to be placed under HUGE pressure from all this growth. This is all hitting at home folks – for me any way. I live here in Papakura so this a big one for me. I will not be letting Penny Pirrit nor Kevin Wright (if he shows up) off so easy this round with the questions in making sure Papakura will not be adversely affected in the Unitary Plan. Home is where the heart is folks and while I support progression and growth, I won’t allow unchecked growth lowering the amenity values of Papakura!
  • May 8 – Wednesday: Vodafone Events Centre. PUBLIC MEETING – REDOUBT ROAD/MILL ROAD CORRIDOR – this is an independent public meeting/rally about the Redoubt/Mill Roads corridor and its effects on those who live within the proximity of the proposed south-east bypass. I live about 5 minutes drive from the southern Mill Road end of the corridor and would notice any rat running down the three main roads that either feed into the Papakura Town Centre or Beach Road which feeds State Highway One via the Papakura Interchange. The road I live on could also be affected as it could act as a bypass to get further north of Porchester Road in order to access the Takanini Village (if Walters Road was not used in the first place). So I will be attending this public meeting to gauge reaction on the feelings of this corridor. 
  • May 13 – Monday: Karaka Hall. KARAKA PUBLIC MEETING – KARAKA COLLECTIVE PRESENTS – a public meeting hosted by the Karaka Residents Association where for the first time the Karaka Collective will be speaking publicly on their idea and reasons for both developing Karaka North and West, and wanting the Weymouth-Karaka Bridge. Okay this meeting is most likely going to be fiery with emotions running on both sides. However at least Karaka Collective are now planning to speak to the residents of Karaka and Weymouth on their plans. Those plans I have in PDF format over at the linked title above (in magenta).
  • May 14 – Tuesday: Auckland Town Hall – Auckland Plan Committee (confirmed). I have a speaking slot here while the Unitary Plan is still under the feedback process to provide clarification on the Manukau City Centre idea. After giving the idea at the Manukau Civic Forum and through my subsequent post: MANUKAU AS THE SECOND CBD OF AUCKLAND; the idea has been noted by Council (Councillors and planners) as well as growing some legs and going for a run. So to save the councillors getting befuddled around Manukau I thought I might go and clarify what I mean with Manukau as our Second CBD.
  • May 14 – Tuesday: Town Hall – UP to You – A Generation Zero Unitary Plan Forum Event. From the Facebook flyer the event is:
    “Auckland will grow by 1 million people over the next 30 years. What will Auckland look like in 2043? The Unitary Plan is an Auckland-wide rulebook to shape the way we grow, calling for a quality, compact city. 
    Since this is a vision for the future, its impact will be greatest on young people. How do we want our city to look? Where do we want to live? How do we get around, and what’s the cost of living in a bigger Auckland? 
    Despite the great impact this plan will have on our lives, the youth voice is largely being ignored in this discussion. It’s time for young Aucklanders to speak up. Learn what it’s all about, talk to the planners, contribute your ideas, submit and have your say in the future of your city!”
    Already in the CBD that day giving my presentation to the Council that day so I might as well trundle along to this youth event and mingle with my counterparts and contemporaries in regards to the Unitary Plan. Sould make for a very good evening 😀 and looking forward to it.

 

These are my final rounds of engagement for this part of the Unitary Plan. It has been quite a journey since March 27 when I both started jet-setting around the city attending Unitary Plan community meetings, running Unitary Plan commentary, giving presentations, and now finalising my submission for the UP. Still got plenty of work to do as the Unitary Plan hits notification around September (at current speed) and all that will entail. But as I mentioned earlier; I will be carrying on my Unitary Plan work – albeit on a more “professional” basis now through TotaRim (which is now open for business).

 

BR:AKL: Bring Well Managed Progress

The Unitary Plan: Bringing Change

Auckland: 2013 – OUR CITY, OUR CALL

TotaRim Consultancy Limited: Talking Unitary Plan that is simple yet informative about YOUR city, YOUR home.

All Things Waste

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Unitary Plan and Waste

 

No I am not referring to the Unitary Plan being either waste or being waste. If you want that go read one of Bernard Orsman’s pieces from the NZ Herald…

 

What I am referring to in this post is a question that has come up in the Unitary Plan discussions of recent: waste. That is waste-water (sewerage) and refuse (what goes to the tip) in Auckland and how we are meant to cope with it through to 2041 as a million extra people live in Auckland. While the Unitary Plan as such does not deal specifically with waste (that is dealt by the Waste Minimisation Policy adopted by Council recently), as the Unitary Plan dictates land and zoning rules it might be prudent to have the land available for waste facilities here in Auckland.

 

The city is going need the room to treat the increase sewerage and process the refuse as we march towards 2.5 million people. So where do we place these facilities?

Waste-water wise we already have two main facilities; the Mangere Sewerage Plant with its four hi-tech Bio Reactors (eliminating the needs for the oxidation ponds that use to pong), and the Albany Sewerage Plant which recently received an upgrade but not as hi-tech as Mangere (Albany still has Oxidation ponds which the Northern Motorway runs over). There are countless smaller sewerage treatment plants scattered around the Auckland region that service small places like Helensville but not connected to the metropolitan sewerage system.

Refuse wise I believe we have a main landfill somewhere on the North Shore operated by TransPacific Waste Management on behalf of Auckland Council with countless transfer centres around the city. As for recycling plants I would have to look but, I think Auckland Council has one dedicated recycling plant while paper is often dealt with by private firms (one I know of in Penrose next to the Onehunga Line).

 

Upgrade or even expansion wise for our waste facilities seems a rather straight forward exercise.

Waste-water wise Watercare (the Auckland Council CCO) has marked down that a new waste-water treatment plant is likely to be needed in the Drury industrial area to supplement the Mangere Plant when the intensification and Greenfield development takes off down this end of the city. If you replicate the Bio-Reactor set up at Mangere to the Drury site then there should be no issues with treatment in the south of the city. You can upgrade the Mangere Plant by adding more Bio-Reactors to it which would seems a good idea as the plant already exists. The catch is can the existing pipes take the extra load if we upgrade the plant. The same can go for the North Shore treatment plant in expanding its capacity by adding the Bio-Reactors to the existing facility (just need to watch those pipes again).

So with waste-water providing Watercare and Auckland Council does not take their eye off the ball nor piddle the money else where, the waste-water issue should be a straight forward one with a new plant and the existing two upgraded.

 

As for our refuse here in Auckland, this is where it gets interesting.  I have written a post on our trashy problem before and can be seen here: “TIME TO TAKE OUT THE TRASH – Waste to Energy for Auckland?”

The post is self-explanatory and challenges Auckland to be mature in asking itself how we deal with our trash. I highly recommend taking a read.

 

Waste-water and refuse. Two rather stinking problems or concerns for Auckland as the city grows but, two of the easier problems to “deal with” if the city acts in a mature and proactive manner. Just keep your eye on the ball folks and no piddling the money away…

 

BEN ROSS : AUCKLAND

BR:AKL: Bring Well Managed Progress

The Unitary Plan: Bringing Change

Auckland: 2013 – OUR CITY, OUR CALL