Which way for the waterfront?

Do we still think the same way about development?

THE Hilton Hotel, initially proposed for the waterfront’s outer T on Queens Wharf, but halted due to Environment Court appeals, might still go ahead.
Despite Wellingtonians’ repeated objections, the hotel is still a possibility for ‘Site 10’ - a 3000-square-metre block of land at the end of Whitmore St and north of the Meridian building.
In a meeting that excludes the public this week, the progress of Environment Court appeal mediations over Variation 11 will be discussed. In 2009 controversial Variation 11 changes to the District Plan were put forward, suggesting that resource consent applications for new buildings within prescribed height and bulk limits be considered without the need for public notification. The Hilton Hotel fits within these limitations.
Although public submissions on Variation 11 saw 48 opposing, and only one in support, the council voted in 2009 to accept the changes.
Wellington Waterfront Ltd says the implementation of Variation 11 changes would not side-step public consultation, and points to current appeal mediations as evidence of that.
Councillor Helene Ritchie, one of four councillors who voted against Variation 11 in 2009, disagrees.
“The intent of [Variation 11] is to set in concrete a particular set of building requirements and therefore not enable the public to, one by one, make comments on those buildings, as has been the case in the past,” says Ritchie.
“It keeps the public out, it denies them a say.”
The Wellington City Council is also taking first steps into a review of the Wellington Waterfront Framework this week, to see if our ideas about development there have changed.
The Wellington Waterfront Framework was adopted in 2001, following public consultation that showed Wellingtonians have a strong attachment to the waterfront.
The new report will be discussed at the Council’s Strategy and Policy meeting on Thursday, May 12, and says, “Further exploration is required to determine if there has been a change in the value Wellingtonians place on the waterfront and how they would like to see it develop going forward.”
In the past, Wellingtonians have said they don’t mind paying higher rates for the waterfront. A source inside the council suggests that in the current economic climate that may no longer be the case, hinting that reworking the waterfront framework now, could open the way for development that would otherwise meet resistance.
The council makes no secret of the need to juggle high quality development and maintenance along the waterfront, with keeping costs to ratepayers down.
“Personally, I think the commercial edict has been a bit of a pretence. Some of those commercial developments have shown a very poor return to the council,” says Ritchie.
Ritchie welcomes the review, but is nervous about the future of certain areas, like the Chaffers markets.
“There has been talk of buildings in that area; the framework actually talked about it as a transition site. I would hate to see that disappear, it’s such a fantastic part of waterfront.”