Devonport Lanes apartment and hotel project cleared for fast-track assessment, expert panel now to decide
A scheme to develop apartments and a hotel above heritage buildings in Auckland’s Devonport has been approved for fast-track panel assessment, meaning a panel of experts will decide whether it goes ahead.
The fast-track website today said the Devonport Lanes scheme to build six levels above the existing two-level Victorian and Edwardian buildings was eligible for assessment.
Protesters rallied in the village, flying red helium balloons to show proposed building heights and yesterday marched up Queen St to meet the Tūpuna Maunga Authority board to seek its support.
However, the fast-track decision said the Minister for Infrastructure, Chris Bishop, was satisfied there was no reason to decline referring the project to the panel for assessment.
It not only met the criteria but adaptive re-use of heritage sites and buildings sought to retain an identity that is distinctive to Devonport and the Auckland region, the decision said.
The scheme would have significant regional benefits by increasing housing supply.
It would also deliver significant economic benefits with about $358 million being injected into the construction industry over five years.
About 1198 fulltime jobs would be provided.
An additional 80 to 90 apartments would add between approximately $1.28m and $1.45m in annual retail spend locally.
Such projects can only be accepted if Bishop is satisfied the criteria are met.
He must declare it an infrastructure or development project that would have significant regional or national benefits.
Referring it via the fast-track approvals process means it can be processed in a more timely and cost-effective way than alternatives.
The plans were submitted by Peninsula Capital, whose directors include local businessman and investor Berridge Spencer.
Devonport Property Management is the applicant.
It applied under the Government’s fast-track process, not via the Auckland Council resource consent scheme.
But Devonport Heritage, headed by Margot McRae, is objecting to “five buildings of four to eight storeys in the heart of Devonport, if the fast-track proposal by Peninsula Capital is successful”.
Devonport Heritage was given 10 minutes yesterday to present to the authority board and ask it to help protect Takarunga/Mt Victoria from the impacts of the Peninsula Capital fast-track application, McRae said.
Dame Anne Salmond attended and landscape architect Richard Reid told of concerns that the proposal’s over-height buildings would reduce the visual significance and integrity of the maunga.
McRae said today she was disappointed in Bishop’s decision.
The proposed 27m buildings would diminish Takarunga and destroy the intimate relationship between the maunga and the town centre, she said.
The authority would be allowed to make a written submission to the panel.
McRae said, “We are asking them to stand firm as they are the only voice that can defend the maunga”.
Hiddleston said in reaction to the referral: “We’re very happy. It’s been a long three years. The referral is a testament to the team but also our panel of experts and designers and heritage experts that this has been accepted into fast-track.
“We still have a long way to go. It’s great the minister appreciates the whole concept.”
The business would now present its case to the expert panel, seeking resource consent by covering the next layer of detail on aspects ranging from water to traffic, viewshafts and heritage.
Eighty to 90 apartments, a hotel of 46 to 50 rooms, a third of a hectare of retail, a quarter of a hectare of commercial space and 80 to 200 car parks are proposed for the main street.
McRae said the plan would dwarf the heritage buildings on Victoria Rd and rob the street of its historic value.
“The seven- and eight-storey apartment blocks will overwhelm the listed A and B buildings and completely change the Devonport streetscape,” she said.
“They want buildings of 30 metres high when the height limit is 13 metres.”
Devonport Heritage supported intensification but the plans were excessive, she said.
Hiddleston said Peninsula Capital understood why people cared deeply about Devonport.
It was one of Auckland’s most-loved villages, and “we’d be surprised if a proposal like this didn’t generate debate”, he said.
“We encourage people to judge the project as a whole. This proposal restores and reuses heritage buildings, and, at the same time, creates new public spaces,” he said last month.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 26 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
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