Rezone plan for Viaduct defended

Viaduct Basin and Apartments. Photo / NZPA

Rezoning Auckland's Viaduct apartment land as commercial would make the area more like other parts of the city and result in a more vibrant mix of activities, says Auckland Council.

Owners of four blocks The Park, The Point, Latitude 37 and Viaduct Point have banded together and hired lawyer Bianca Tree to fight the changes, fearing commercial uses in their buildings and higher leasehold land fees.

In response to the outcry from those apartment owners, a council spokesman defended the Proposed Unitary Plan changes.

"Nowhere else in the city centre has restrictions on mixing office and residential development within buildings," the spokesman said, and changing the zoning would make the Viaduct area more like metropolitan centres Manukau, New Lynn, Newmarket and Takapuna.

"Enabling a wide range of commercial and residential activities in these areas, without interfering in market preferences, supports these centres as vibrant mixed-use areas where people can live and work in locations that are well-served by public transport and ... civic amenities.

"The city centre is the location of the highest concentration of commercial and residential development in New Zealand," the spokesman said.

"Given the high degree of investment in public transport and civic amenities, it is important that this relatively small area of land is used as efficiently as possible.

"As such, the proposed Unitary Plan provides a high degree of flexibility for development in the city centre, with an emphasis on high quality urban design."

In all major city centres, including Auckland, it was common for office buildings to convert to residential or a mix of office and residential.

"It is less common for residential buildings to convert to office or a mix of office and residential, partly due to covenants and other private restrictions," he said.

"But when this does occur, the effects are generally positive rather than adverse. For example, it enables property owners greater flexibility in leasing or selling space within buildings and creates an opportunity for building improvements."