This will start with vehicles being moved on Captain Cook Wharf ahead of the America's Cup, followed by containers to give Aucklanders back their waterfront, Peters said.
Council officials want to remove imported cars off the port-owned Captain Cook Wharf and extend it at a cost of $50 million to $100m as the main cruise ship terminal, which is easier said than done.
Planning committee chairman Chris Darby says the council is at the pointy end of delivering an ambitious plan for the rejuvenation of the waterfront and midtown that includes turning most of Victoria St into a park between Albert and Victoria Parks and a new bus terminal on Wellesley St near the two universities.
"The rejuvenation of these areas is highly anticipated and expected by Aucklanders," said Darby.
Goff called it an ambitious plan that will be good for Auckland, but said its implementations will need to be balanced against spending priorities in the budget.
A key objective is to make the downtown area more pedestrian friendly in time for the America's Cup and Apec conference of world leaders in 2021.
This largely revolves around Quay St. Buses will be removed from the Britomart precinct and use bus stops at the eastern end of Quay St as far as a turn round bay near Commerce St. Quay St will be reduced to two lanes for general traffic and drivers will be encouraged to use Customs St.
There are controversial plans for a 20m reclamation at the ferry basin to create more open space as part of a compensation package for the sale of QEII Square to Precinct Properties for its $850m Commercial Bay tower and shopping mall on the site of the old Downtown Shopping Centre.
Darby believes the benefits of public open space outweigh filling in more of the harbour, which will be tested during public consultation on the 10-year budget next year.
The eight ferry berths will be moved and expanded to 12 to 15 berths along the western side of Queens Wharf. The seawall along the waterfront also needs repairs costing $40m.
Heading towards Wynyard Quarter, the plan is to remove about 40 carparks on the eastern viaduct by early next year and replace the pedestrian lifting bridge from the Viaduct Harbour with a new $20m to $30m unfunded bridge.
Less urgent is a plan to reconfigure the 4.5ha park at the end of Wynyard Wharf to include parkland down the eastern side and free up land near the point on the western side for apartments.
An unknown at this stage is a 60m to 80m extension to Halsey Wharf to accommodate super yachts. Halsey Wharf is one of the options being explored to house syndicates for the America's Cup and, if selected, would be brought forward.
