By BERNARD ORSMAN
The Auckland City Council has overturned plans to save a stately Edwardian home in Parnell, five days after councillors put drastic measures in place to stop it being demolished or removed for 13 apartments.
The backdown followed secret discussions on the cost implications of issuing a heritage order on
the St Stephens Ave house, a two-storey home built by the Paykel family in 1909-1910.
It is understood the bill to ratepayers would have run into millions of dollars in compensation to developer SMG Group and the owner, Josef Roberts, who has used a deposit on the home to put a deposit on a new property.
The heritage order would have probably led to the council buying the home, worth about $6 million, which could have been sold on once it was protected.
Parnell residents fighting to save the home and the character of their suburb were flabbergasted at the turnaround.
St Stephens Ave resident Elsbeth Hardie said councillors were being dishonest expressing their passion for the city's heritage one minute and voting against saving it the next.
Local architect Kathryn Carter said it showed councillors lacked teeth to see the order through and look at alternatives such as using developers' contributions to buy the home.
Finance committee chairman Doug Armstrong refused to say what the cost would have been to save the home. Ratepayers would have to trust the collective wisdom of councillors, he said.
Mayor John Banks acknowledged that the council had not done enough for one of the great homes in the city, but neither could it trample on the private property rights of the developer and the astronomical costs that would entail.
Mr Banks said the case had triggered a commitment from the council for $150,000 at its final budget meeting yesterday to fund a full inventory of heritage buildings in the city.
