Anti-congestion moves harm cbd

By Bob Dey

Auckland's central business district is in grave danger of being planned out of its natural role as a regional focus, a range of specialists warned this week.

Both Auckland City Council and the Auckland Regional Council have strategies aimed at cutting the number of cars in the downtown area. The regional council steadfastly opposes new parking buildings while the city council wants to implement two restrictions on new development.

The city council's proposed district plan offers developers a parking deal which is generally more restrictive according to road type - one space to 240 sq m of gross floor area instead of the existing ratio of 1:200 for type 2 roads, a rise from 1:150 to a ratio of 1:160 for type 3 and instead of 1:105 for types 4 and 5, a ratio of 1:120 for the new type 4.

As Gerald Rundle of Bayleys Research explains in a bulletin highlighting this subject, many roads classified as types 3 and 4 now would move to type 2 if the proposed plan is implemented. That means they are on streets where the council wants to cut back congestion by reducing the number of traffic movements to and from buildings.

For supporters of public transport over the private car, this is good news. For developers in the cbd it is a disaster.

They cannot compete with buildings erected in the 80s, when the pendulum swung sharply in favour of big parking allowances after Fletcher Development completed the bronze mirror glass structure which was home to Prudential then Hongkong Bank, at the corner of Queen and Wellesley Sts. It had only 11 parking spaces for 4960 sq m of office, a ratio of 1:450 net.

One choice for cbd tenants is to move out, either to the fringes such as Newmarket, Parnell and College Hill or to greenfields sites such as Smales Farm on the North Shore, where Clear Communications has one park to 29 sq m.

Cheaper space, lower rent and, in new fringe developments, more up-to-date offices are strong incentives to move. For developers of high-class apartments there is also an incentive not to consider the city - parking ratios have been chopped in half although, as Rundle has found, there is a strong preference in the rental market for accommodation which provides parking.

Les Paterson, chairman of the regional council's transport committee, says an economic (not cash) cost of $750 million a year has been put on congestion in the region.

But at a forum this week to discuss the effect of transport initiatives on Auckland property, transport and traffic engineer Graham Tuohey said the cbd was being penalised unfairly in attempts to overcome congestion. Half the traffic across the harbour bridge and on motorways through the central area was going elsewhere.

"Does Auckland want a cbd, and what does it want in the cbd. At present the cbd is in decline. One thing to decide first is, do we have one cbd that is vibrant, or three or four that we're aiming for now?"

Tuohey says Auckland's cbd has dropped to fifth behind Christchurch, Hamilton, Wellington and Dunedin is space provided for general merchandise and its workforce has fallen.

Meanwhile,one area not being addressed is the interface between motorways and the local road network, where congestion begins.

Amanda Reynolds, of the Institute of Architects, says the cbd's continuing importance is assumed but needs to be discussed more widely. Defined by the motorways, "it's big and floppy and loose," she says.

Reynolds believes the desire of strategists to increase residential density at various hubs around the region, helping the introduction of better public transport and perhaps also easing congestion, also needs to be discussed more widely or it will fail.

"People have to be asked and taught about it, shown ideas before developers come along, or you will get a groundswell against it."