Tag: Deputy mayor

The First EMU Arrived

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Auckland’s First Electric Train has Arrived

 

I caught this on Twitter last night while at the launch of (Deputy Mayor) Penny’s Hulse’s campaign launch in Henderson last night

Photo Credit: Port of Auckland

41Ports of Auckland ‏@AucklandsPort16h

Hi @mayorlenbrown, your new train set has arrived at your port 😉 @AklTransport pic.twitter.com/cEjV9J5JpV

Embedded image permalink

That is the two motor units and the middle “trailer” unit that will make up our first EMU commuter/metro train.

The consist will head down to the new Wiri Depot for extensive testing before it will come into service next year. Exciting times ahead.

Mayor Len Brown was also at Penny Hulse‘s campaign launch last night and I was able to deliver him the good news of the EMU arrival after seeming it on Twitter (thank you POAL for the Tweet and photo).

I can safely say there was excitement all round after the announcement.

Talking Auckland will be looking back at the journey of electrification and will produce a series of it very soon.

 

But for now Auckland takes one step closer towards the 21st Century with its transport system

 

 

Unitary Plan – Towards Notification #2

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A Warning to the City

Slowing Down the Unitary Plan Will Come at a Great Cost to Auckland

 

As a part of a two-part mini-series I will be going over the Unitary Plan briefing to the media outlets (including Talking Auckland) that occurred yesterday .

In Part One (last post), Talking Auckland looked at: the Unitary Plan and where it has come thus far. Part One will also look at where next with the Unitary Plan – specifically August 28th to 30th and September 5th.

Part Two (this post) will look at one of the questions I asked in regards to the Unitary Plan: could it have been slowed down. Part Two will also serve a warning against those conservative Council candidates who think slowing the Unitary Plan down is a wise idea. Simply done in the name of a Better and Affordable Auckland, slowing down the Unitary Plan does nothing to achieve that. All it achieves is Central Government intervening – something the conservatives might be holding out for

 

Part Two: Could Have the Unitary Plan Been Slowed Down

 

The simple answer to that is NO! Now as this is meant to be running commentary I think I might need to give a bit more than the two letter simple answer.

I need not remind the City (as the Deputy Mayor has already done so countless times) that the Unitary Plan is different from the District Plans of old. With the District Plans the only time “we” – the City get a look and comment on a District Plan is when it was formally notified. Formal notification means formal submissions and a trip to a hearing – often the Environment Court. YUCK for 99% of the City that are not planners or RMA lawyers.

The Unitary Plan was different. We got given the “draft of the draft” where everyone could give feedback no matter who you were in Auckland. That means for the first time the City got to have a good look at the Unitary Plan and comment back on it. And comment back did Auckland do with 22,700 pieces of feedback, with independent commentary being led by this very blog!

As mentioned in Part One, the Council and Local Boards have since June 1 been going through our feedback and changing the Unitary Plan to reflect what we said. The changes that will be introduced to the Auckland Plan Committee and Local Boards will occur August 28th – although they and the media (including me) will have a copy of the tracked changes on Monday. And from there the formal decisions are set over three days (August 28-30th) with the Governing Body giving its final instructions on September 5.

 

This brings me to my warning to those conservatives who will try to slow down the Unitary Plan.

It was confirmed yesterday by the two Penny’s that there is nothing stopping a new Council after October 12 stalling or even withdrawing notification of the Unitary Plan, taking it apart and redoing it again.

Conservative Councillors and candidates, particularly those running in the Albert-Eden and the Tamaki-Maungakiekie Wards at the moment will try to hold out and see if they can get the numbers after October 12 to stall or withdraw the notification on the Unitary Plan (if the September 5 Governing Body meeting decided that the UP was to be notified – it still might not and order the new Auckland Plan Committee to review aspects again before notification).

If I had no confidence in the Unitary Plan as it is I would rally with the conservatives. However, as I do have confidence in the Deputy Mayor and the Unitary Plan I will be rallying against the conservatives who would stall the Unitary Plan out of interests of a small minority.

Yes, a very small minority in two ward areas that are trying to run conservative candidates in those areas. The other wards that could earn my ire have been more constructive. These Wards not attracting my ire include Orakei and most of the North Shore where Auckland 2040 is doing quite a bit of leg work with the Mixed Housing Zone split (to the benefit of the wider City).

If these conservatives get their way and stall the Unitary Plan this is what will happen. For every day the Unitary Plan is stalled is another day pushed back in the three-year notification process. For every day the notification is delayed is another day that fighting the Housing Affordability and Choice crisis is lost. And another day lost in fighting the Housing Affordability and Choice issues is another day of uncertainty in having the city progressed and us losing our best and brightest who want to stay but can not. I also need not remind the City that the Housing Accord’s Special Housing Areas do not come “online” until the Unitary Plan is notified. So stall the notification and you stall getting more houses and apartments being supplied to a growing city. Oh, and if the Unitary Plan is stalled for too long then the Minister for the Environment will intervene and the City really loses out to Wellington.

That is the risk the city runs if the conservatives get their way and stall the Unitary Plan. So, please, I ask you to be careful in the upcoming elections. If the Unitary Plan is stalled by these conservatives serving a small interest, it will come at a great cost to the city – especially the two areas that can ill afford it the most: The South and the West.

Also those who claim that they were shut out of the Unitary Plan process by being denied speaking rights on the UP over the last two months are dead wrong. As the Deputy Mayor confirmed yesterday and as I also know from experience, speaking rights were denied to those wishing to speaking on the UP during the last couple of months. The reason was uniform and straight forward from the Deputy Mayor on why. If one of us (the city) spoke after the feedback session then all 22,700 others could speak. Now 22,700 time five minutes of speaking plus five minutes of questions if the Councillors keep it brief equals – a three month delay. The Deputy Mayor did further say that speaking would be a duplication of what we said in our feedback. In any case I know two of us that did ask for speaking rights and were refused had a good chat or meeting with the Deputy Mayor (and planners) and both of us came away happy. Also  Auckland 2040 and myself have been busy advance both our causes on the side to positive results thus far – and a Better Auckland.

 

So we wait for the August 28-30th Auckland Plan Committee meetings as they set the decisions for the Unitary Plan, ready for September 5.

 

TALKING AUCKLAND

Talking Auckland: Blog of TotaRim Consultancy Limited

TotaRim Consultancy
Bringing Well Managed Progress to Auckland and The Unitary Plan

Auckland: 2013 – YOUR CITY, YOUR CALL

 

Local Government poster png mode

 

Statement on the Unitary Plan RUB Workshop today

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Unitary Plan – Rural Urban Boundary Workshop

 

Council has released its usual media statement following another Unitary Plan Workshop today. This one on the Rural Urban Boundary.

From Auckland Council

Workshop debates greenfield development and rural urban boundary options

 Councillors and local board chairs today came to grips with where rural urban boundaries (RUB) may extend to cater for urban growth of both housing and employment over the next 30 years.

 

 The Auckland Plan proposed that up to 40 per cent of new dwellings (around 160,000 dwellings) should be planned for in new greenfield areas and coastal towns and villages.

 

Deputy Mayor, Councillor Penny Hulse, told the Unitary Plan workshop that the objective of the RUB was to provide certainty, for urban and rural dwellers and developers, on where development could occur over its 30-year life.

 

 “It is about long-term planning, and being clear about where we are going and how it all fits together, rather than an incremental approach” she said.

 Greenfield RUB areas currently under investigation in the south, north and north-west have a potential capacity for around 90,000 dwellings and 35,000 jobs. These areas include Warkworth, Silverdale, Kumeu–Huapai, in the north and north-west, and Drury – Pukekohe in the south, and also incorporate around 1300 hectares of new business land.

 

 Today’s RUB workshop considered issues such as infrastructure (transport/roading, stormwater, wastewater, parks and schools) as well as environmental protection.

 The Deputy Mayor said it was excellent to have the area knowledge of local boards to guide the discussions.

 “When you start to get down to the nuts and bolts of the draft Unitary Plan, and all its components, local knowledge is invaluable if we are to arrive at well-considered solutions for population growth across all of Auckland,” she said.

 

 Elected members gave interim direction for staff to do further work on potential changes to provisional RUB boundaries. This work will contribute to the upcoming mapping workshops.

 

 

—–Ends—–

 

A bit generalist and the next Auckland Plan Committee that would discuss this is not until July 25. I will see if I can flesh out some of those interim directions and see which way things are heading – especially for the Southern RUB.

The Southern Rural Urban Boundary being only 5 minutes away from me and of a very hot button issue here in the south as the three options go under consideration.

More as it happens.

Also there have been some developments with Manukau as the Second CBD concept. I need to work through the processes here. But, once I have something solid on the Manukau concept I will let readers know

 

RUB Workshop Today

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Change of Unitary Plan Workshop Dates

 

I noticed an “alert” from Councillor George Wood late last night signalling a change in the Unitary Plan Workshops. This Wednesday was meant to be the Rural Urban Boundary Workshop but, has moved to today (10-5) and is still a closed session. Wednesday will be the workshop on Universal Design.

 

Also as a reminder I will be in Town Hall today attending the briefing on your Rates for the 2013/14 cycle. I will write the commentary up on this later tonight.

 

Related articles

Unitary Plan Updates – Our Feedback is Coming Through

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Our Feedback for Our Auckland Slowly Coming Through

 

Slowly but surely the trickle of information – that is our feedback to the Unitary Plan is coming through to the #shapeauckland website for our viewing.

I noted on Twitter this morning that Auckland Council has made mention and updated its Shape Auckland webpage indicating the process of the Unitary Plan, as well as an electronic document dump for our feedback:

 

A Screenshot of the Shape Auckland website as of this morning

Shape Auckland screenie

 

 

Unitary Plan Civic Forum – South

On April 6 a group of stakeholders were invited to the Southern Auckland Civic Forum at the Manukau Civic Centre (old Manukau City Council complex). There with the Local Boards, the Deputy Mayor and Planners; we (the residents, businesses(?) and non-for-profit groups) discussed and debated on a series of questions asked in regards to the Unitary Plan for the South (which includes Botany and Howick).

 

Our feedback from the Civic Forum (South) can be seen in the embedd below

You can see the rest of the Auckland “sectors” at the Unitary Plan Feedback page.

 

Now we wait to see what weight and what progress will be made of the Civic Forums feedback from the entire city. And yes good old Manukau is in there folks as that campaign pushes on.

TALKING AUCKLAND

Talking Auckland: Blog of TotaRim Consultancy Limited

TotaRim Consultancy
Bringing Well Managed Progress to Auckland and The Unitary Plan

Auckland: 2013 – YOUR CITY, YOUR CALL

 

 

Related articles

Media Statement From Council

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Statement on Today’s Auckland Plan Committee Proceedings

 

Council has just released a media statement on today’s two-hour session at the Auckland Plan Committee that was meant to be discussing the first two workshops (June 19 and 26). That technically did not happen and as I speak I am writing my exclusive post up on today’s proceedings now (to be out by 6pm).

From Auckland Council:

Council continues review of draft planning rules
 
Auckland councillors today continued the task of reviewing potential changes to building heights and housing zones in the draft Unitary Plan based on community feedback.
 
At a public meeting of the Auckland Plan Committee, councillors agreed to refer a set of nine directions on heights and housing zones to local boards for their consideration, guidance and feedback.
 
The principles may be used to guide changes to the draft plan in response to public feedback.
 
Council staff will undertake further work on changes that have been outlined following the first two workshops.
 
“Final decisions will not be made until the end of August,” said Auckland Plan Committee chair and Deputy Mayor Councillor Penny Hulse. “We have a lot of work to do to ensure the notified version of the plan reflects as best as we can what the public has told us.”
 
Councillors were also assured that public feedback will be available on the council’s website allowing people to search for the comments of individuals and organisations.
 
The interim directions (outlined in the report) relate to:
 
  • Principles for building heights in centre zones
  • Principles for building heights around centres in the Terrace Housing and
  • Principles for notification for height infringements in centres and the Terrace
Housing and Apartment Building zone
  • Principles for volcanic viewshafts and blanket height sensitive areas
  • Approach to design quality
  • Provisions in the Mixed Housing zone
  • Notification of development control infringements.

 

—ends—

As I said I am getting my own commentary on today written up now

 

Related articles

From Yesterday’s Workshop

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Sorry Folks Have Not Got Much Here

 

Yesterday in my “The Next Steps for the Unitary Plan – Those Workshops” post I made mention that the Auckland Plan Committee and Local Board Chairs held their first workshop. The workshop was on “the principles of development” around our centres – in particular height (which is not being codified as a theme against from our feedback).

In the same post I also made mention that at the end of each workshop a public statement will be released for our consumption. Despite a small glitch from the Council I have that statement which reads the following:

Heights discussed at first Unitary Plan workshop
Today elected members of Auckland Council attended the first post-engagement workshop following feedback on the draft Unitary Plan.
 
Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse said the workshop brought together Local Board Chairs and the Auckland Plan Committee members to talk through the principles governing heights in centres and give interim direction on how changes will be made to the draft plan.
 
“The political direction that came out of today’s workshop is that, while we all agree we need a range of heights across our centres, we would like to see greater refinement to allow for variety within a centre where it is appropriate.”
 
The direction-setting workshops, which will be held over June and July, reflect the main topics in the 22,700 pieces of feedback Aucklanders gave over 11 weeks of engagement.
 
“We have started with centre heights as our first topic, as they set the framework for the level of development in other parts of Auckland. 
 
“Proposed height limits for Auckland’s metropolitan, town and local centres have been widely debated, with clear argument coming through from each side of the debate. Our challenge for heights is to get the balance right and I believe we can do that,” said the Deputy Mayor.
 
Work will now start to refine the principles relating to height in centres as directed. These will then be presented for discussion at the next Auckland Plan Committee.
 
For further details on the feedback and the next steps in the Unitary Plan process, please see the Shape Auckland site.

 

Sorry folks that is all we have right now. Unless a Councillor or Local Board Chair would like to make a further statement this is all we (the city) have to go with for now. And I am going to assume it will be like this until the July 2 Auckland Plan Committee where all the workings of the workshops reach the committee and are discussed in the “open.”

In saying that I will go and ask about the situation that arose to this comment yesterday:

  • Oddly, height (which doesn’t need speech marks because you know what it means) is not a theme submissions are being coded against….

Follow up to that bullet point and my Part Three post will come up later today.