About 200 people packed out the Mt Eden Village Centre in Auckland on Thursday night, furious over plans for high-density housing in the area.
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Auckland Minister Simeon Brown directed Auckland Council earlier this year to allow for even greater housing and development around City Rail Link stations.
The council was now consulting with local boards, iwi, and government ministries to allow for more apartments and terrace homes in walking distance of train and bus stations, more restrictive consenting requirements to increase resilience, and an increase in mixed housing suburban zones.
The plan provided an alternative means for the council to meet the Government’s goal of Auckland accommodating two million new homes over the coming decades.
The meeting in the Mt Eden Village Centre was organised by the Character Coalition, which said the changes would put more pressure on already stretched infrastructure like schools, storm water and waste water.
It said residents in Mt Eden, Morningside, Kingsland and Sandringham faced development that would completely change the face of the city.
Coalition chair and chair of the meeting, Sally Hughes, said it was a big concern for the community.
“The legislation doesn’t allow for any transitions between the different zones, so you might have some of the special character area still remaining, with a 15-storey apartment block next to an 1800s villa,” she said.
“That doesn’t lead to amenity for the people living in the area, and it doesn’t do either of the buildings any favours.”
Hughes said she hoped a middle ground could be reached in preserving character zones, and intensifying the city.
“The people in these suburbs are not opposed to development,” Hughes said.
“They’re very aware that intensification needs to happen and that housing must continue to be built, but this is a very blunt instrument, and it doesn’t allow for any negotiation of where it’s most suitable.”
The meeting began with council staff attempting to clarify the more complex aspects of their plan.
Ward councillor Christine Fletcher voiced her concern about what was happening.
“Why I believe that we need a reality check is that there will be financial repercussions for an incoming council beyond which I’ve never seen anything of this scale before, let alone the decimation of our community,” she said.
The Government’s directive came with severe time constraints, Fletcher said.
She said the necessary infrastructure needed for intensification would come with a high price tag, claiming the cost for the Albert-Eden-Puketāpapa ward alone would be $20 billion or more, to enable 73,650 additional dwellings.
“If this plan is to proceed on the capacity of two million further dwellings, there will be a requirement for 56 more primary schools, 23 more secondary schools, land acquisition of 79 sites,” she said.
People also heard from Urban Auckland’s Julie Stout, elected member Kendyl Smith, and local board member Troy Churton.
Many of the speakers took aim at the quick turnaround required from the Government’s directive.
Local Labour MP Helen White was present at the meeting. She also commented on the speed the directive was being progressed.
“This kind of rush is not necessarily a way of getting the buy-in of a community,” she said.
“And we know in places where we have good, affordable solutions for housing, like Europe actually, there has been more buy-in because there has been the democratisation of the process.”
Just pushing the plan onto people was not the best approach, White said.
She offered up some of her speaking time to National MP and minister Paul Goldsmith, who said he was there to listen.
“We’ve had this big expansion in capacity,” he said.
“It is about vastly increasing the supply, in order to take the pressure off house prices, so that our next generation of Aucklanders can have a reasonable shot at having a house, an affordable house.”
People who RNZ spoke with were unhappy about the council’s plans.
“It is probably something that the city has to do in an organised planned way, not in two, three weeks under the threat of a gun,” said one.
Another said there was sufficient room for housing already without removing character houses and those of historic value.
During the question and answer portion of the evening, the crowd became vocal about its distaste for the Government directive.
“Don’t do it,” shouted one audience member.
“We’re pussyfooting around Minister Bishop, like people pussyfoot around [Donald] Trump, and I think he needs to be told how totally ridiculous his decrees are,” said another.
Auckland Council had until late September to decide whether to adopt its draft plan.
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