The disputed Auckland City Council logo.
The Auckland City Council is to get another logo - this one featuring explosive bursts of fireworks.
For a time the city will have three logos - a wavy blue one for letterheads and the old one of two yachts sailing past Rangitoto Island.
Auckland - long known
as the City of Sails - will gradually phase the old logo out.
The latest design is the result of an agreement between the council and Triangle Television brokered by Mayor John Banks.
The broadcaster asked the council to make changes to its wavy blue logo because of the close resemblance to its own blue-coloured triangular symbol, which has been in use for 10 years.
Mr Banks stepped in after talks between Triangle, council executives and lawyers failed to find a solution.
He said he was happy with the outcome, which is expected to go to the council for approval today after the legal details are completed.
Mr Banks and Triangle's lawyer, John Hackett, were happy with the agreement but would not comment on the details before it had been presented to the council.
"Commonsense prevailed on the part of both parties and at the end of the day we reached a good commercial and legal resolution of the issue," Mr Hackett said.
The new council logo features the wavy blue triangle surrounded by three bursts of fireworks in different shades of blue.
The Herald understands Mr Banks apologised profusely to Triangle chief executive Jim Blackman for the mistake and told him the council did not want to cause any financial hardship.
It is understood the city will pay Triangle's legal bill of $10,500 as part of the agreement. The council's own legal costs are expected to exceed this sum. It is not known how much was spent redesigning the logo.
The agreement will almost certainly mean 18 promotional banners costing $12,600 with the new wavy blue logo will no longer be used.
Mr Banks was keen to find a solution to the logo row, which blew up in his face when chief executive David Rankin rolled out the new logo as a fait accompli to the new council as part of a $1 million rebranding exercise.
