A proposed layout of new apartments at the Bayswater Marina.
A proposed layout of new apartments at the Bayswater Marina.
Two appellants against Simon and Paula Herbert’s $300 million plans for 78 apartments on the landward area of the North Shore’s Bayswater Marina have withdrawn objections.
Takapuna Grammar School Rowing Club and the Auckland Yacht & Boating Association pulled out of the fight against the scheme but theBayswater Marina Berth Holders Association and Bayswater Community Committee are continuing to battle it.
Joanna Gilbert, rowing club president, said the Herberts’ business had guaranteed no impediments to water access and rowing activities.
She said the club had “reached an agreement with Bayswater Marina Holdings and has withdrawn its appeal against the resource consent for the redevelopment”. That would ensure the ongoing viability of the club for students, after the business agreed to:
· Vest part of the redevelopment as a road reserve via an extension to Sir Peter Blake Pde;
· Make significant amendments to the conditions attached to the resource consent;
· And enter a deal with the club about the relationship during the redevelopment phase, ensuring water access.
“What we have mutually agreed marks the end of an anxious few years, dealing with a myriad of redevelopment complexities, navigating the intricacies of the resource management process and needing to mitigate the threatened feasibility of the rowing club,” Gilbert said.
The business had listened to, acknowledged and addressed the club’s concerns, she said.
The developers had agreed to stage groundworks to fit in with the 10-month rowing season and training schedule.
But getting to this point wasn’t easy.
“We are a volunteer-based charity organisation. This has been a long and energy-sapping journey. It has been heartening to receive so much support while we worked to safeguard rowing opportunities for our local children, both now and into the future,” Gilbert said.
The club has run programmes for 85 years, competing at local and national level.
It is a non-profit organisation managed by a volunteer committee of parents, now supporting about 85 rowers from Takapuna Grammar and Belmont Intermediate.
An Auckland Yacht & Boating Association executive member who didn’t want to be named said today that entity would no longer oppose the Herberts’ plans.
Simon Herbert's Empire Capital company owns Bayswater marina. Photo / NZME
“We didn’t settle. We withdrew our appeal during arbitration.” Asked why, he said: “Not enough funds,” referring to the cost of taking matters further.
Last December, independent hearing commissioners headed by Greg Hill approved an amended proposal, scaled back from 119 apartments during hearings a few weeks ago to 78 now.
The scheme is estimated to be worth around $300m on completion but original plans changed after Auckland Council officers withdrew their support for the scheme in September when hearings into the plans were under way.
The development for the site at 21 Sir Peter Blake Pde is on most of the landward portion.
Hearings were held in September and November with strong objections from the Bayswater Marina Berth Holders Association and the Bayswater Community Committee.
But the decision has allowed the Herberts’ scheme to go ahead.
During the hearing, Bayswater Marina berth holders, boat ramp users, interest groups and local residents made presentations to the panel opposing aspects of the company’s first proposal which it announced last year.
Kitt Littlejohn, representing the Herberts’ company, said Bayswater Marina had taken criticisms on board and used that as a basis to reconsider the layout and scale of its overall development masterplan.
The development is still planned to be 12m or four levels high but a less dense scheme on the 3.3ha site beside the water is proposed.
The terraced houses will have internal garages and one car park will be developed for each new apartment. Around 300 carparks are at the marina now and will be reconfigured under the new scheme.
Plans to axe Bayswater’s ferry were allayed when a new operator emerged. From next month, Explore Group will take over the Bayswater and Birkenhead/Te Onewa Northcote Point ferry routes.
It will take over the three routes abandoned by the routes’ previous ferry operator Fullers360.
Explore Group managing director William Goodfellow said the company was up for the task and hoped to increase ferry services in future.
When Fullers pulled out, Paul Glass questioned the move. He is executive chairman of Devon Funds Management, a boatie and an objector to the Herberts’ apartment plans.
Glass said the Bayswater ferry cancellation alone was a major blow and would push residents into Lake Rd traffic jams.
It wasn’t good for plans for Bayswater Marina, where owners Simon and Paula Herbert proposed multi-level apartments, Glass said last month.
But Simon Herbert said last month it appeared Auckland Transport was searching for a replacement operator.
“Our read on it is that the service will continue,” he said on August 21.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 23 years, has won many awards, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
