Auckland Council votes to ease tough stance over reclamation

Narrow victory opens way for Ports of Auckland to get more land for parking

Ports of Auckland has won a huge victory allowing it to use more of the Waitemata Harbour to park cars after Auckland councillors yesterday caved in on tough rules for reclamation.

In a secret vote, the Auckland development committee narrowly voted 9-8 to weaken its position going into mediation on zoning for the port precinct in the Unitary Plan.

Instead of sticking with the tough line of "non-complying" status decided in August 2013, the committee changed the council position to "discretionary" status.

This will allow the port company to apply for resource consent for further reclamation, which will be publicly notified, but in all likelihood lead to approval.

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The Herald understands that the council's regional planning manager, Penny Pirrit, told councillors that the "non-complying" status was legally indefensible at mediation.

The committee agreed to make further reclamation a "discretionary status" on the proviso that reclamations that are more than minor must be publicly notified and the boundary line for port use is pulled back.

Ports of Auckland is believed to favour pulling back the line, which leaves the council more or less in agreement with the company at mediation.

Committee chairwoman and deputy mayor Penny Hulse is believed to have voted for relaxing the reclamation rules.

On Wednesday, she told the Herald she was comfortable with the "non-complying" status.

Mayor Len Brown was absent for the discussion and vote. He was in Christchurch for the Cricket World Cup opening ceremony.

Ports of Auckland has argued that it needs to reclaim more of the harbour at the end of Bledisloe Wharf to cater for bulk cargo, of which cars make up 45 per cent.

The company will begin building two large wharf extensions into Waitemata Harbour in April and says it will need to reclaim 3ha of seabed between them over time.

Yesterday, the Herald revealed that Auckland Council had approved the two wharf extensions without notifying the public or councillors.

The extensions will extend 92m and 98m from the furthest points at the left and right end of Bledisloe Wharf. They will be 33m wide and cover an area of 7590sq m.

In a paper presented to the committee yesterday, the ports company said the wharf extensions were only an interim measure.

"In time we will need land between the wharves," the paper said.

Councillors also voted 16-5 yesterday to delay a decision on a central wharves strategy that involves further reclamation of the harbour in exchange for turning Captain Cook wharf into a cruise ship terminal.

Instead of endorsing the strategy, the council instructed staff to carry out more detailed work and involve interested groups and the public.

Waitemata councillor Mike Lee said the strategy was a contrived problem costing up to $200 million when the council had built a cruise ship terminal on Queens Wharf for nearly $20 million and there was space on Wynyard Wharf for the new generation of bigger cruise ships.

How they voted

For easing rules*

Penny Hulse

Cameron Brewer

Penny Webster

Alf Filipaina

Linda Cooper

Calum Penrose

Bill Cashmore

Sir John Walker

Arthur Anae

Against
Mike Lee
Chris Darby
John Watson
Wayne Walker
Cathy Casey
George Wood
David Taipari**
Liane Ngamane**

*Vote taken to go into mediation and change port zoning in the Unitary Plan from "non-complying" to "discretionary"
**Maori Statutory Board members