Not wanting to put too great a Dil Fonseca spin on it, but Wellington’s future currently hangs in the balance. WCC are canvasing the people as to what that future may look like, but it seems to have got scant consideration by the public so far. This is really what we should ALL be discussing right now, but instead we have people debating whether the Library should stay or go. Surely something is more important than just one building – ie the entire city?
Council has identified four possible scenarios. They want comments on these by this coming Friday ie 17 May at 5pm. You can read about it here.
Scenario 1: Inner City Focus
- More growth in the inner city would help to keep our compact urban form.
- We would need taller buildings and more investment in stormwater networks to manage natural hazards.
- Parts of the central city are vulnerable to sea level rise, earthquakes and liquefaction.
- More people can walk and there would be less cars on the road, less carbon emissions, and better health for people.
- More people would live close to the waterfront and inner Town Belt.
- We would need more play spaces and pocket parks.
- New development would potentially change the look and feel of the inner city suburbs.
- More people close to the centre works well with the transport options in Let’s Get Wellington Moving.
- Business would benefit from more people living close to shopping areas.
- There will be smaller houses and less car parking on your property.
Scenario 2: Suburban Centres Focus
- People would have good or improved access to public transport.
- New development in character areas might change their look and feel, but less so than Scenario 1.
- Investment in infrastructure would be needed to increase Kilbirnie and Miramar’s resilience to sea level rise.
- There would be a good mix of housing types across the city.
- Growth and new development would be directed to more resilient parts of the city.
- Vibrancy and commerce would be boosted in the suburban centres.
- We would need to significantly upgrade community facilities, and invest in water systems in the suburbs.
- There would be a need to improve public transport to and from the suburban centres that are further away from the central city.
- People would have lots of access to parks and open space.
- There would be smaller houses and less parking on your property.
Scenarios 3 and 4: New Greenfield suburb and suburb extensions
- Northern and western areas are less affected by sea level rise and liquefaction than coastal areas like Kilbirnie and Miramar.
- There would be more cars on the road which would increase carbon emissions.
- Takapu Valley and Horokiwi are close to centres with commercial and employment opportunities.
- Building new suburbs would mean a big investment in transport and water systems especially in scenario three.
- Creating new communities can inspire modern and innovative design, for diversity and affordability.
- New development could impact the city’s fresh water – we’d use water sensitive design methods to maintain water quality and reduce disruption.
- New development could change the landscapes and views of Wellington hills.
My apologies for the weird brown text above – serves me right for cutting and pasting straight from the Council’s documents. Some of the links will still work, and take you to the correct council document, although most won’t.
Main thing is: post here and comment, but even more important – post comments to the Council. Only 4.5 days to go !
the thing to ask yourself is: would picture one (Mt Vic) be an acceptable response to you?
Or would picture two (Ohariu Valley?) be an acceptable response?
Either?
Both?
Neither? And if neither, then what?
To be Honest, I think the Council have predetermined the outcome of this already, and really I’m pretty sure its going to be a re-endorsement of the current “growth spine” approach,…with some tinkering
It clear they are heavily against 3/4, so its likely a mix of 1 and 2 will prevail, places like Johnsonville and Tawa town will become targets for more intensive development, (although the council wont so anything to stop the organic expansion of currently consented greenfield development (Sprawl) in places like Stebbings Valley and Lincolnshire farms,
Along with this transport spines such as Adelaide road appear to finally becoming economic to develop with 5-6 story apartment so that will likely to be encouraged..