Why have a district plan?
Thorndon resident Kevin O’Connor asks why the Wellington City Council even looks at building applications when the size of the planned building would be way outside the council’s own guidelines.
Last week the hearing began for a major new Thorndon building which on the plans is nearly twice as high and has 60% more bulk than permitted by the Council’s own District Plan.
“Why do we even allow the application?” O’Connor asks “What’s the point of the District Plan if it is to be disregarded?”
Last week, the Wellington City Council heard an application from a joint venture company (The Wellington Tenths Trust and the Redwood Group Ltd) which wants to build a 12 storey building by the Thistle Inn at the Lambton Quay bus exchange.
The building to be be called the Kate Sheppard Exchange, situated by the Thistle Inn and the Lambton quay bus exchange, is proposed to be up to 64 metres high. The District Plan currently allows 34 metres.
O’Connor, a nearby resident, is particularly upset at a council officer’s evidence that this proposal “fits” in the ‘Low City’ part of the Central Area. He says several recent buildings erected in that area are in broad compliance with height restrictions, and asks why, given the Low City designation in that area, the Council will not immediately say: “those buildings are built in compliance with the rules, and this proposal should comply with those rules also.”
A spokesperson for Redwood Group says they had originally planned a lower building for the site but a larger building was actually encouraged by Wellington City Council urban designers.
Last week the hearing began for a major new Thorndon building which on the plans is nearly twice as high and has 60% more bulk than permitted by the Council’s own District Plan.
“Why do we even allow the application?” O’Connor asks “What’s the point of the District Plan if it is to be disregarded?”
Last week, the Wellington City Council heard an application from a joint venture company (The Wellington Tenths Trust and the Redwood Group Ltd) which wants to build a 12 storey building by the Thistle Inn at the Lambton Quay bus exchange.
The building to be be called the Kate Sheppard Exchange, situated by the Thistle Inn and the Lambton quay bus exchange, is proposed to be up to 64 metres high. The District Plan currently allows 34 metres.
O’Connor, a nearby resident, is particularly upset at a council officer’s evidence that this proposal “fits” in the ‘Low City’ part of the Central Area. He says several recent buildings erected in that area are in broad compliance with height restrictions, and asks why, given the Low City designation in that area, the Council will not immediately say: “those buildings are built in compliance with the rules, and this proposal should comply with those rules also.”
A spokesperson for Redwood Group says they had originally planned a lower building for the site but a larger building was actually encouraged by Wellington City Council urban designers.
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