Cities brace for population growth
Across Wellington councils are working furiously to provide for future growth, and at the same time not raise the ire of residents. Wellington City Councillor Andy Foster says some suburban areas, such as Johnsonville, need to become ?development hubs? that will provide public transport and other services for the wider area. ?There is absolutely no doubt that encouraging a greater proportion of future growth to occur close to services and public transport will mean much less pressure on infrastructure than if that growth were dispersed more widely around the suburbs,? Mr Foster says. Areas around Johnsonville being surveyed for development are Stebbings Valley, Lincolnshire Farm and an extension of Newlands. These growth areas will impact on Johnsonville as a transport development hub and ?Area of Change?. Mr Forster says it?s sensible to keep development closer to the centres. ?The biggest area of change is the Wellington CBD. Inner residential suburbs already have the same height and density as is proposed for the areas of change. ?The emotive term 'high density' is occasionally used ? it's a bit of a misnomer,? he says. Another reason the WCC hasn't further upped development density in areas like Thorndon and Aro Valley is that have a high degree of coherent character, which ?adds enormously to the city and its sense of place and character?. ?It does that to a particularly significant degree ? and yes we have accepted that there is a clash between that and further increased density. ?However there are areas in some of those suburbs where there are much higher density developments occurring,? Mr Foster says. He says developments need to accommodate the next few decades of growth, ?but do so in a way that protects the things that really contribute highly to our sense of place?. In regard to ?Areas of Change? Mr Foster has been trying to get council to hold?demonstration projects through a land development agency. ?The Hutt City Council declared its support for inner city developments with its attempt to loan $1.7 million to the Daly Street apartment project. Following public outcry that the loan was going to a company that had never completed a building project, the loan was withdrawn. HCC deputy mayor Roger Styles says the development has now been taken over by City Living Group. The council is now looking to support more development. ?We have just approved a plan change to support more CBD development. ?We have seen definite population growth in the CBD, and we want to give financial incentives to developers,? Mr Styles says. Plan changes include reducing the number of parking spaces required for each high rise apartment from two to one, and revising the design guidelines of building facades. Council is also simplifying how land value costs are worked out for apartments and capping the cost at $10,000. ?It?s about the land value of each apartment, and [working out the cost] gets very messy,? says Mr Styles. Besides the Daly Street site, council has given Agnes Inn approval to build apartments, however both developments are not yet underway. HCC District Manager for Environmental Policy Bronwyn Little says developments issues in Petone are being addressed by the Petone District Plan Discussion Document. ?Petone has claim to a special environment, and we do believe the area has specific issues,? says Mrs Little. The Petone discussion document drew 126 responses and covered development aspects for residential, commercial, heritage and industrial properties. The largest development set to begin in Petone is the Cuba Street Hotel.
