Q: If that is the case, why was notification of the consent considered?
A: Because of the potentially adverse environmental effects which were set out in the commissioners' report as contaminated land, construction earthworks, dewatering and construction noise and vibration, construction traffic, infrastructure, operational noise, effects on the roading network, trees and streetscape, site layout, bulk and location of the buildings and heritage values, particularly with the Albion Hotel.
Q: So if all these are an issue, why no notification?
A: Because the adverse effects from each of those aspects were either deemed to be minor, temporary, or could be dealt with in a way which would minimise or offset negative effects.
Q: Example?
A: An airbridge is planned to be built above Hobson St so people can get from the existing SkyCity buildings to the new convention centre. The commissioners said that pedestrian bridge "will have minor adverse amenity effects on the wider environment due to ...design, form and function."
Q: What's planned by SkyCity on the site?
A: The commissioners said it will be a six-level convention centre with an 8600sqm (nearly 1 hectare) exhibition hall, plenary theatre to seat 3000 people, facilities to cater for up to 6000 people, convention for up to 3000 delegates, four-level basement, public laneway at the northern edge and 12-level 300-room hotel.
Q: Who is most affected?
A: TVNZ due to it having its big national headquarters on the block between Victoria St West, Hobson St and Nelson St, and the old Albion Hotel at the opposite end of that block, the planning commissioners found.
Q: Why can't they have a say on this then?
A: Both these parties gave written approval backing the application plus the commissioners said the new centre "has been designed to interface appropriately with the Albion Hotel and consequently will have only minor adverse effects on the heritage values of the Albion Hotel".
Q: Any other historic buildings involved?
A: Yes, the historic Nelson House, also known as the former Berlei Factory.
It has Heritage NZ status (category 2) and is scheduled a Category B building on the Auckland Council District Plan. But the commissioners said Heritage NZ had "agreed to accept the proposal in principle for the NZICC in regards to the integration of the Berlei Factor into the new development". SkyCity's application is for "parts of the building that the majority of the viewing public relate to, being the Nelson and Wellesley Street elevations, will remain intact," the commissioners' report said.
Councillor, lawyer react to convention centre decision
Auckland councillor Chris Darby is shocked the public will have no say on SkyCity Entertainment Group's NZ International Convention Centre but legal expert Russell Bartlett is glad consent will be processed on a non-notified basis.
Darby was stunned, but Bartlett, an RMA specialist lawyer of Shortland St, said the decision was good for Auckland.
Such a big new structure should have triggered public consultation, Darby said.
"How it fails to be subject to public testing is beyond me.
"The application requires some 40 consents triggered by three operative plans and is overall a non-complying application.
"This is a colossal proposal stretching over a vast land area of a whole city block and public road," Darby said.
"It involves the demolition of a scheduled building and privatisation of public airspace over Hobson St."
But Bartlett dismissed the size factor, saying that was not an aspect which would automatically trigger notification.
"This is the central city and there are liberal planning controls.
"Development is anticipated, so they're not doing anything beyond what is considered appropriate for the central area," Bartlett said.
The NZICC would be enormous and its effects would go well beyond the site, Darby said.
"It is without doubt the single largest development to impact the city-centre's urban form that we are likely to see in a long time," he said of the almost 1ha of buildings, plus the new 300-room 12-level hotel.
"The proposal will in time reshape future development in the west sector of the city-centre as following development takes cues from this massive anchor," Darby said.
SkyCity should not have sought non-notification in the first place, he said.
"The applicant could have acknowledged Auckland's interest and volunteered notification," Darby said, referring to other examples of that including the Michael Parekowhai application by Auckland Council and Yachting New Zealand's facility at Takapuna Beach.
"But it has chosen expediency over excellence. This is another shortcut to failure," Darby said.
Bartlett said SkyCity had gone about things in an entirely logical, thorough manner.
"They got consents of the affected parties and just because something is large-scale doesn't meant it should be notified. They have targeted the affected parties. I don't find this surprising at all."
Commissioners David Hill, Rebecca Skidmore and Kitt Littlejohn were "very experienced," he said.
"To me, it's reassuring that you can actually do something in Auckland without being held up. It's a good sign if an applicant goes about it carefully which they have done," Bartlett said.
