Demolition has been approved for a notable Tauranga downtown building which the Historic Places Trust has finally succeeded in getting listed as a heritage site.
Tauranga City Council independent hearings commissioner Alan Dormer has issued a certificate to allow the demolition of the 75-year-old National Bank building on the corner of Grey St and Spring St.
Mr Dormer has upheld the objection by the owner of the building against a council planner's decision not to issue the certificate. It is owned by KV & FP Investments.
The owners of the National Bank building and the adjacent Public Trust building on the corner of Spring St and Durham St both sought demolition certificates to avoid the risk of getting caught by restrictions of a heritage listing.
Mr Dormer's ruling to issue the certificates gave the National Bank building's owner the option to demolish - even although the Historic Places Trust says the company has signed up to a negotiated settlement on the Trust's appeal for the building to become a heritage site.
The trust launched its appeal after the council refused to list the bank building and four other downtown buildings as heritage sites on the City Plan.
Mr Dormer's ruling as it applied to the 54-year-old Public Trust building, formerly the Tauranga Electric Power Board building, was largely irrelevant. This was because the Historic Places Trust dropped its bid to protect the building and its owner Barrie Harnett was issued resource consent by the council last week to redevelop the property.
The Bay of Plenty Times was unable to contact Greg Robison, the property manager for the National Bank building.
Mr Robison gave evidence to the September 7 hearing that the council's refusal to issue a demolition certificate was a "nonsensical interpretation" of the City Plan that served no purpose except to hinder the development of Tauranga's lagging CBD.
He said the building's owner needed the flexibility to alter or demolish the building. The potential for it to become a scheduled heritage building had already led to ANZ National seeking a new combined corporate site on Cameron Rd.
"Had it not been for this proposal, we could have been competing for their interest in an upgraded and extended building to meet their combined needs."
The Historic Places Trust's Tauranga-based area manager Fiona Low said the issuing of the certificate did not change their position that the bank building should be on the heritage schedule.
Her understanding was that the solicitor for the owner of the building has signed off on the negotiated consent order settling the trust's appeal.
The demolition certificate was valid for up to five years before it lapsed and she hoped the owners did not resort to demolition. "We hope that it stays because it is a cornerstone of Tauranga's built heritage."
Ms Low said the trust was always happy to work with owners to come up with innovative ways to alter buildings while retaining heritage elements.
The owner of the Public Trust building Barrie Harnett said it was good to see the council was incorrect in its reasoning.
Mr Harnett said it meant that the owner of the National Bank building could go ahead with the demolition and not be stuck with an Historic Places Trust listing which he called a "financial killer".
The National Bank building previously served as Tauranga's Chief Post Office. The other buildings up for heritage listings are the former NZI building in Spring St, Rydall House in Grey St and the middle surviving section of the Cargo Shed on Dive Cres.