Tag: Auckland Council

What Your Town Or Metropolitan Centre Might Look Like

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3D Mock Ups of Potential Maximum Development

Apologies for not getting this particular post up earlier as I have been busy focusing on my new company of recent.

Auckland Council via Shape Auckland have released 19 You Tube videos showing potential growth in 19 of our Metropolitan and Town Centres per the draft Unitary Plan. Unfortunately You Tube and WordPress don’t like embedding each other which somewhat makes it a pain so it has to be the links.

 

3D VIDEO MODELS OF POSSIBLE GROWTH ACROSS AUCKLAND

Unitary Plan 3D modelling videos

Auckland Council has developed a 3D model of Auckland to help develop the draft Auckland Unitary Plan.

This included modelling possible growth in 19 metropolitan and town centres around Auckland.

While largely an internal tool to help inform planning decisions, the resulting videos give a useful indication of how centres might grow over 10, 20 and 30+ years.

The model has this week come runner-up at the ALGIM GIS Project of the Year Award (Note: the winner was also from Auckland Council, its Capacity for Growth Study).

It’s important to remember that these are indicative only: clearly actual growth is down to what landowners decide to build and will of course be subject to design assessments. The videos demonstrate the protection of heritage buildings and show that high-rise buildings (9 or more storeys) will be restricted to metropolitan centres.

The videos can be viewed on youtube.com/aklcouncil and the 19 centres are:

Albany Botany Browns Bay Glen Eden Henderson
Highbury Manukau Manurewa New Lynn Newmarket
Otahuhu Papakura Point Chevalier Pukekohe Remuera
Sylvia Park Takapuna Three Kings Warkworth

 

You should be able click each of the individual centres above and see the video.

 

Of course as a reminder this shows the maximum development that could occur if economic conditions are right. Note the English carefully I have used as it is rather specific.

 

BEN ROSS : AUCKLAND

BR:AKL: Bring Well Managed Progress

The Unitary Plan: Bringing Change

Auckland: 2013 – OUR CITY, OUR CALL

Karaka Unitary Plan Meeting

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From Karaka On The Unitary Plan

 

Monday night I trundled over to the Karaka Unitary Plan community meeting to listen up on what was in store for the folk over to the west of me. Karaka is only 15 minutes away from where I live and is also affected by the Southern Rural Urban Boundary decisions. So for me it was of particular interest to hear what the residents had to say. Of note most that were there do oppose the Karaka-Weymouth bridge, a point I will cover on Friday.

 

The Karaka meeting was a bit different to most that I have been to. This was their second meeting on the Unitary Plan and this time round they had pre-written questions and answers gathered from the first meeting. Thus the presentation and any subsequent questions from the floor were framed around the written material. Of note that the Karaka Residents Association has invited the Karaka Collective to speak on their submission to Karaka North and West being developed, and the building of the multi million dollar bridge. As of now, no word has been received from the Collective on that invitation although I do have their submission over in my KARAKA COLLECTIVE SHARES post.

 

Below is the combined written questions and answers as well as the presentation given to the Karaka Residents;

 

A reminder that there is consultation in May on the Rural Urban Boundary. BR:AKL will keep tabs on that specific consultation as it happens.

 

BEN ROSS : AUCKLAND

BR:AKL: Bring Well Managed Progress

The Unitary Plan: Bringing Change

Auckland: 2013 – OUR CITY, OUR CALL

Figures on Auckland Land Use

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What Percentage is Our Land Used For

 

I sent a question to Auckland Council on what proportion of our land was used in what per Unitary Plan definitions. After the council geo-spatial specialists crunched some numbers this is what was sent back to me:

From Shape Auckland (shapeauckland.co.nz)

 

Our Geospatial specialists have looked into this for you. I’ve included the breakdown of all the zones since it makes quite interesting reading.
Unitary Plan Zone (%)

 

  • Single House 2.89
  • Mixed Housing 3.52
  • Terrace Housing and Apartment Building 0.49
  • Large lot 0.77
  • Rural and Coastal Settlement 0.39
  • Neighbourhood Centre 0.03
  • Local Centre 0.04
  • Town Centre 0.09
  • Metropolitan Centre 0.08
  • City Centre 0.11
  • Mixed Use 0.20
  • Business Park 0.02
  • General Business 0.05
  • Light Industry 0.94
  • Heavy Industry 0.37
  • Rural Coastal 16.66
  • Rural Conservation 2.52
  • Rural Production 47.41
  • Mixed Rural 1.79
  • Countryside Living 5.84
  • Marina 0.04
  • Minor Port 0.01
  • Mooring 0.30
  • Public Open Space – Conservation 7.24
  • Public Open Space – Informal Recreation 1.76
  • Public Open Space – Civic & Community 0.02
  • Public Open Space – Sport & Active Recreation 0.64
  • Special Purpose 1.08
  • Future Urban 0.28
  • Strategic Transport Corridor 0.59
  • Road 3.84

 

A thank you and appreciation to Auckland Council and their geo-spatial specialists for compiling that data. And yes it does make for an interesting read, especially when road dwarfs out quite a bit of the individual urban zones.

 

I shall tell a look at these numbers some more and ponder over them but for the most part, well over of 60% of our land is not urbanised.

 

 

The Clunker and an Unnecessary Road

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The Weymouth Link – Is It Needed?

 

In short no!

 

I have commented on this with my “THE RURAL URBAN BOUNDARY – SOUTH END“” post last week – briefly recapping:

Personally I am in favour of the Draft Southern RUB Options – Corridor Focus (Page 4 of the embed) which contains primary urban development to Drury and Karaka (Core’s K and D), along the State Highway 22 and North Island Main Trunk Line rail corridor, the North East Pukekohe flank, and the Pukekohe South East flank. This option keeps the main development either near existing development or along a transit corridor making infrastructure provisions (Drury and Paerata Rail Stations) and access more easier than the other options such as those that include Karaka North and West. Per The Unitary Plan there is an option to retain a green belt between Pukekohe and Paerata which would provide a wildlife corridor as well as park space. While development is kept away from the highly valuable Pahurehure Inlet which according to the maps contains colonies of wading sea birds. In any case that area slated as Karaka North and West if need be can be converted either into lifestyle blocks with strict covenants or over time into a new regional park and green lung for the ever-growing Auckland (which is what I would prefer Council would do (like an Ambury Farm or Puhinui Reserve set up)).

I have also noted as potential transport link from Whangapouri to Weymouth via a new bridge over the inlet as well as talk of a new waste water treatment plant. With me preferring the corridor option thus Karaka West and North not being developed – but actually wanting to be flipped over to lifestyle blocks or even better a regional reserve I can not see the need for a transit link through that area connecting to Weymouth. That link would create a rat-run from State Highway 20 at the Cavendish Drive Interchange, down Roscommon and Weymouth Roads (Route 17), over the new bridge, down the new transit link and through to State Highway 22 just north of Paerata rather than containing it to State Highways 1 and 22. That kind of rat running would lower the amenity of the new Greenfield developments and do nothing to solve congestion issues. As for the waste water treatment plant, well with Karaka North and West no longer under development you can away plop the new plant there out of the urban road but near the potential outfall site.

 

Submission wise I am going to follow through and “recommend” to Auckland Council that the Corridor Option for the RUB being the preferred southern Greenfield development options, providing there is:

  • 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)

 

But in this post I am going to open the floor to Manurewa Local Board Chair Angela Dalton with her Manurewa Action Team through her Scrid document:

 

Attribution to Angela Dalton – Chair of the Manurewa Local Board

 

And yes I am trundling along to the Weymouth Community Meeting tonight at 6:30pm discussing the Weymouth