New suburbs on the map

By ANNE GIBSON

Auckland's two largest suburban developments, which could be worth $1 billion, have been given the green light. The Auckland City Council is backing both the Mt Wellington quarry development, to be called Lake Park, and the Camp Bunn development, to be called Sylvia Park, though the public still has time to have some input.

Together the developments would provide homes, shops and offices for 8000 to 10,000 people. To this can be added the Highbrook Business Park further south, to be built on farmland at East Tamaki, where 12,000 could be employed. Over the whole region this means housing and jobs for 20,000.

The 105ha quarry plan is for 700 houses to accommodate 2000 and offices for 1500. The 25ha Sylvia Park would have a mixed community of 6000.

The projects could cost about $500 million each, take 10 years to finish and bring Auckland two new suburbs with town centres, houses, shops, entertainment venues and offices.

Both projects are in the Mt Wellington vicinity. Lake Park straddles St Johns, Remuera, Mt Wellington, Glen Innes and Panmure, and Sylvia Park is on the site of former Second World War sheds near the intersection of the southern motorway and south-east highway to Pakuranga.

The proposed zoning change for the Mt Wellington quarry site came up for public input on March 13. The application from Fletcher Challenge subsidiary Winstone and Brierley Investments company Patras Investments was the first hurdle in creating one of the largest residential developments on the Auckland isthmus.

Sylvia Park developers Kiwi Income Property Trust are even further ahead, with the zone change application going through the Auckland City Council on March 9.

The change would allow development to proceed, says Kiwi Income's joint managing director Richard Didsbury. The area was zoned business 4 for light and heavy industrial, offices and limited retail buildings. The application had sought a change to business 8, which allows a wide range of uses.

The quarry plan sought to rezone the Mt Wellington site from business 5 and business 7 to business 9 and a proposed business 10 zone.

This would introduce a new business 10 zone in the isthmus district plan, the council said. The intention was to provide specifically for the development of the town centre within the site to include a range of business activities, including retail and offices.

The public has the next month to comment on the Mt Wellington quarry proposal. The council has sent copies of the application to business associations, other developers and residents.

An objection is expected from the Australian-based Westfield and Westfield New Zealand director Grant Hirst, mainly because of the potential retail competition between Westfield's development of the former Mercury Energy site in Newmarket and the quarry site.

But the quarry site developers are delighted to be over the first hurdle.

"The council is prepared to support the application by allowing it to proceed as a private plan change," said Fletcher Property's Stuart Kendon.

The isthmus and islands manager for the council's city planning group, Karen Bell, said the council could have taken another stance.

"The Resource Management Act is set up so the council is obliged to promote or consider private plan changes but sets out circumstances where the council doesn't have to," Bell said, but the council had decided to promote the change because of the size of the project and its importance.

"One of these is where the district plan has become operative in less than two years. Our district plan became operative in November 1999 and if the council had wanted to it could say it was not obliged to promote the plan change."

"But we don't have any areas larger than this. It is our most substantial brownfields development in a single element."

Quarrying was to end anyway and the zoning would then be inappropriate. The council could not reasonably have said no. Bell said Winstones will continue quarrying until 2002. Only a third of the vast site is available so far.

Land contouring and stabilisation of rock faces around the lake is part of the preparation for development. The water is being treated and the area will be landscaped to provide a recreational focal point - and name - for Lake Park.

The quarry has sheer rock faces on the Lunn Ave side which drop 30m from the road to the lake-bed, which is 10m to 12m deep, says Terra Firma managing director Philip Kean.

The 1km quarry includes a historic stonefields site where Maori used lava rock to improve the kumara growing season.

The developers are working to protect the area, which is bordered by a stone wall built by early European settlers.

Two of seven sites for warehouses and showrooms have already being sold, lot 3 for $510,000 and lot 4 for $871,000.

Construction will start about the end of next year, says Fletcher's Stuart Kendon: "In six month's time, we will have firmed up on the concepts for the site."

* Plans for the quarry development are at libraries at Auckland central, Mt Wellington, Glen Innes, St Heliers and Otahuhu. Submissions should be made on specific forms before 4.30 pm on April 26 and sent to: City Secretary, attention manager city planning, isthmus and islands resource management, Auckland City Council.