Mt Eden riled by Methodists' plan to sell church building

By GEOFF CUMMINGS

A Whiff of scandal and betrayal taints the frothy flat whites and leffe blondes along Mt Eden's busy cafe belt. In the Belgian pub, the specialty shops and cafes, from Circus Circus to Sierra, locals are lamenting in none-too-hushed tones the decision to remove the 103-year-old Mt Eden Village church.

The Methodist Church's plan to replace the landmark wooden church in the heart of the village with a block of shops incorporating a church auditorium has drawn a "God working with Mammon" response from locals.

The Auckland City Council has also earned the community's wrath for failing to safeguard the heritage character which makes the village a mecca for cafe worshippers and tourists drawn to the nearby mountain.

But after a three-year battle which has split the community and seen blood spilled on the political altar, the Environment Court has cleared the way for the historic church's removal.

The row has more than parish pump significance. In highlighting the lack of protection for character buildings in Auckland, the church case is ringing bells in other long-established village shopping centres - whose heritage atmosphere is their main defence against soulless malls.

Town planner and Save our Church campaigner Bob Demler fears the thin end of the wedge, at least in Mt Eden: "If the church is going to blow away a 100-year-old building to make money then you could expect other property owners to take a similar approach for purely business reasons."

Methodist central parish representative Gillian Watkin says the small congregation "isn't currently self sustaining", and rentals from the redevelopment will bankroll its continued presence in the village.

Watkin comes across as more Vicar of Dibley than an apostle for progress but, as in the TV programme, appearances can be deceiving.

She is forthright in her defence of the resource consent application which proceeded in the face of poster campaigns, letterbox drops, street meetings and opposition from the local business association and community board.

"Churchgoers were made out to be not part of the community - but who is the community?" says the part-time vicar, who lives in Titirangi. "The congregation has farewelled people and baptised babies here. Losing the building will pain them too.

"The reality is we've got to pay the bills. It's not practical now to have a building that is only used for a couple of hours on weekends."

But community board member Wendy Davies believes they are "getting back at us in a way for not fearing God any longer. Are they saying that if we go along every Sunday the church will still be there?"

Davies says the parish has not looked at alternatives, such as converting the church to a cafe and using the Sunday-school hall behind for worship.

"The church now, basically, is cafe culture. It's quite a contrast to 30 years ago. It's completely okay to do anything you like on a Sunday."

With its church, Edwardian shops and post office dating from the early 1900s, Mt Eden village's revival in the past 20 years has pointed the way for communities of similar vintage looking to rejuvenate their commercial centres.

Yet none of its buildings is listed on the council's district plan schedule of heritage buildings, nor do any of them make the Historic Places Trust register. Demler, who represented the Mt Eden Planning Group in the Environment Court, says while the village buildings may not individually meet the tough council criteria for scheduling, they are collectively worth preserving.

"That's what a real village is, a cluster of buildings around a church. It's really the accumulation of buildings that gives the character that needs to be preserved."

This concern is echoing around many of Auckland's established village centres, particularly those near rail and bus routes facing redevelopment pressure from plans to concentrate population growth around them.

A growing number want their heritage protected better, pointing to commercial revivals in Parnell, Devonport, Ponsonby Rd and Mt Eden village.

But calls for new measures are caught up in a political scrap within Auckland City Council.

The Mt Eden and St Heliers community boards are seeking comprehensive management plans, known as centre plans, which cover issues ranging from parking to new building design.

In recent years, centre plans for Otahuhu, Onehunga, Ponsonby Rd and Parnell have been incorporated in the district plan. Ellerslie and Panmure are also interested.

But Mt Eden's request stalled in February when Auckland Citizens and Ratepayers Now councillors on the community board Mark Donnelly and Greg McKeown steered through an alternative motion, calling on council staff to prioritise the need for centre plans throughout the isthmus and explore alternatives.

Donnelly says centre plans can be time-consuming and expensive, as they are subject to consultation and appeal processes. He says centres such as Kingsland, Balmoral, Sandringham and Eden Valley face change under Auckland's growth strategy and a comprehensive approach is needed.

"We need to move before it's too late but we don't want to take a simple knee-jerk response [to the church decision]. There may be other tools for character protection and interim steps we can take."

But City Vision ward councillor Glenda Fryer suspects the pro-business pair are more worried about planning rules which restrict property owners' rights.

"There always seems to be money for other initiatives and most of the work needed for a centre plan in Mt Eden has been done. It should be at the top of the list."

The wrangle has prompted former long-serving councillor and new Mt Eden Business Association chairman Gordon Johns to resign from Citizens and Ratepayers after 30 years.

"They all forget that when a number of business areas decided on mainstreet programmes and accepted extra rates levies for them they would eventually move on to centre programmes."

In any case, a centre plan for Mt Eden would be too late for the church. Because it was not listed in the council's district plan schedule of heritage buildings, the church's fate was basically decided on parking issues. In a heritage evaluation several years ago, the church, which has lost its buttresses, spires and original entrance over the years, came up two points short of the threshold of 50 points.

Council heritage director George Farrant says the evaluation found the church had merits "but nothing that makes it stand out head and shoulders above a lot of similar churches in the city".

Farrant says scheduling is not taken lightly as it restricts property owners' rights. "We have to set equitable benchmarks at which protection sets in - but it can be galling if it just misses."

There are options to preserve character precincts but centre plans offer the best protection. "But it's out of my territory. Ultimately resources are limited and we've got a lot of centres baying for protection."

The Historic Places Trust says it had no powers to intervene in the resource consent process for the church and registration alone would not necessarily prevent demolition.

"In this case we recommended scheduling in the district plan," says Auckland area co-ordinator David Reynolds. "We also sought information from the church regarding its historical background but did not receive any from this source."

In fact, there is no shortage of information about the church and its formative role in the growth of Mt Eden, the third Auckland City suburb to be developed after Ponsonby and Parnell.

In This Familiar Place, a book published in 1999 to mark the church centenary, records it took barely three months to build, for £990. Its long, wooden pews were supplied at a discount by the Kauri Timber Co.

Prominent within the church in its early years were city identities such as the Hendersons, Pollards, Buttles, Courts, Newcombs and Wisemans.

With its native-wood panelling, narrow, arch windows and high ceiling, the church interior is well-preserved, while reflecting fairly typical Methodist restraint.

But dwindling attendances since the 1970s have strained resources and taken a toll on the building, the loss of the corner buttresses and original entrance porch perhaps the most significant.

As early as 1983 the church trust board was weighing up the church's future on the site.

In 1985, a suspicious fire destroyed the primary department at the rear of the church, and last year the organ caught fire during Sunday service, underlining the church's vulnerability.

Watkin says the building is not unsound but requires maintenance and would need considerable renovations to meet the needs of the modern church. "We have all this real estate but nothing we can use for coffee groups and meetings."

"It's really a debate about whether the church is a building or a collection of people - and I come out on the side of the people every time."

She says the parish maintains churches in Pitt St in the city, Kingsland, Epsom, Mt Eden and Dominion Rd (recently handed to the Tongan congregation).

"It's said the church should be looking after its heritage buildings - I think that's a lot of buildings to be looking after.

"There is this misunderstanding that if you have a historic building people will give you lots of money to protect it for the community but that's just not true. The onus of maintenance really does fall on the owner of the building."

It hopes a buyer will relocate the church but Watkin says there is no deadline for its removal. She says the church explored all avenues before redevelopment was approved by the congregation.

Architect Eric Laurenson, long connected with the church, says its replacement will be sympathetic to the village and reflect the strong Edwardian features of the two-storey buildings on the nearby Stokes Rd corner.

The plan involves three retail shops fronting on to Mt Eden Rd, with rooms for church use above. The auditorium will have a sloping ceiling and "worshipful character" while being available for community use when not needed by the congregation.

Laurenson has been involved in dozens of church restorations and says the church's role is "not as some kind of local icon to give character. The real church is the people.

"From my observation, the church has fully understood the community's concern about the loss of a familiar object but change does occur in communities with varying degrees of heartache. Community entitlement to a building when they don't actually contribute to it is a big, big question right around the world."

But the community board is unaware of any formal approach for help. Davies contrasts Mt Eden with the Kingsland Methodist Church, which approached the board about alterations to make its building more useful, and obtained council funding.

"There are other options. They could do a land exchange. They could sell the church. It's a pity their withdrawal from society at large has become so complete they sought out a solution without communicating with society."