5 02 May 2017
13 April 2017
File: (17/682)
Report no: CDC2017/2/129
Petone 2040
Purpose of Report
1. To seek Council approval of the Petone 2040 Spatial Plan as Council’s and Community’s overarching long term development strategy for Petone and Moera.
|
Recommendations It is recommended that Council: (i) notes that Petone 2040 is supported by the Petone Community Board (PCB), Jackson Street Programme (JSP), and the Petone 2040 Community Group; (ii) notes that Petone 2040 has been well received by Councillors, and Officers are seeking it as a spatial plan to assist their work; (iii) notes that Petone 2040 will form an important part of the Hutt growth ‘story’ being developed with NZTA and GWRC to consider city wide transport projects eg. Cross Valley Link; (iv) approves the Petone 2040 Spatial Plan, attached as Appendix 2 (separately circulated) as Council’s and Community’s overarching long term development strategy for Petone and Moera; (v) approves the membership of the Petone 2040 Group as follows: Cr Tui Lewis (Chair of the Petone 2040 Group); Ms Pam Hanna (Petone Community Board Chair); Mr Mike Fisher (Petone Community Board Deputy Chair); Mr John Donnelly (Jackson Street Programme representative); Mr Matt Roberts (community representative); Ms Sue Piper (community representative); and Mr Tom Bennion (community representative); and (vi) appoints a member of the City Development Committee to the Petone 2040 Group. |
Background
2. The Petone 2040 Spatial Plan is the result of Council and Community’s need to rationalise numerous issues, opportunities, and projects in Petone and Moera. For example in dealing with ongoing requests by JSP and/or PCB of Council to perform upgrades to Jackson Street eg. street furniture, public space, events, art, character/design guides etc. Pressure on Council exists to address housing intensification and how this would affect the character and heritage that makes Petone/Moera special, or what to do in response to NZTA’s fast track plans for Petone to Grenada Link (P2G) or GWRC’s plans for Ava train station etc.
3. NZTA or GWRC projects are traditionally considered under a limited brief, not fully considering wider Council policy or aspirations of Community, not appreciating that mutual and unanticipated benefits are more likely if agencies worked together and under a bigger plan.
4. Without an agreed over-arching strategy it becomes difficult for Council, Community, and others (NZTA, GWRC etc) to understand what is important and then to agree from a long list of potential projects or approaches what is critical or best for the future of Petone/Moera and the city.
5. During 2015 Council considered requests by the JSP and the PCB for upgrades to Jackson Street ie. new heritage style street furniture and consistency of look and feel. Work by Officers confirmed funding for these upgrades would be significant but then questioned if this would be the most strategic use of funding.
6. As NZTA was quickly investigating P2G and considering the wider transport network it was agreed between Council and Community to instead fund a high level strategy to understand these opportunities and to capture any other less obvious opportunities and risks in Petone and Moera before it was too late.
7. Up to this point the only guiding document available was the Petone Vision Statement 2007 (PVS). Although a good document for the purpose it was designed for ie. a document of vision and principles. PVS is not a design strategy like for example ‘CBD Making Places’ which confirms a vision and then shows ways to achieve it by fitting together the projects of different parties such as Council, NZTA, GWRC, and private sector.
8. Whatever replaced PVS needed to be highly visual to communicate complex information simply and to a wide cross section of contributors and end users. It needed to be visionary, practical, all encompassing, and it needed a clear set of actions. It was therefore agreed to produce a spatial plan.
9. Progress for the Petone 2040 Spatial Plan was approved during November 2015 as a community led project funded by Council. Council approved the project terms of reference (TOR), membership to the Petone 2040 Community Group, and released $50,000 for Stage One of what was identified then as a two stage project. Refer to Appendix 2 for details of TOR.
10. Petone 2040 Stage One was completed in June 2016 and the following work was achieved:
a. Review and compare Council strategies and policies.
b. Engage community, stakeholders, and officers to better understand issues, risks, and opportunities.
c. Produce an updated vision for Petone.
11. Petone 2040 Stage Two was completed in April 2017 and the following work was achieved.
a. Engagement with Petone Sportsville.
b. Engagement with Community, Stakeholders, and Officers.
c. Briefing to Councillors (7 February 2017).
d. Final report that includes updated vision, four highest priority projects, eleven other important projects, and a plan of actions.
Discussion
12. Petone 2040 like CBD Making Places is a long term strategy that will evolve over time and in response to new challenges and the changing views of Council and needs of the Community.
13. Petone 2040 is intended to guide all Council decision making and it can be used as a basis to partner with Community and others. Future topics may include:
· Housing Growth
· Business Growth
· District Plan
· Parks and Open Space planning
· Community Facilities, Libraries, Museums, and Community Hubs
· Heritage and Character
· Road Network including SH2, P2G, CVL etc.
· Public Transport
· Walking and Cycling
· Sport, Leisure and Sportsville
· Art and Culture
· Infrastructure planning
· The Esplanade
· Jackson Street Upgrades etc
14. Discussions at CEO and Executive Management level between Council, GWRC, and NZTA confirm that joined up stories are essential for the highest level of planning to prioritise, build robust business cases, reassure community, secure budget, strengthen consenting, and to produce good and enduring outcomes.
15. Council needs an approved strategy for Petone to share with NZTA and GWRC. Council has the Integrated Vision, Urban Growth Strategy, Infrastructure Strategy, Environmental Sustainability Strategy etc but none of them are specific to Petone, and none of them place everything together and to show how Council’s objectives can be shaped to fit seamlessly with the objectives of NZTA and GWRC.
16. A good example of shared story is the CBD Riverlink project. NZTA, GWRC, and Council agreed to work together toward a common story that; integrates the primary goals of each agency but in order to deliver superior solutions, optimise mutual benefits, pool resources and funding. There are many benefits that can only be realised by the three agencies working together. For example, GWRC’s full level of flood protection can only be achieved if Melling Bridge is replaced. The replacement of Melling Bridge requires NZTA to elevate Melling Interchange as a higher priority. To advance this NZTA has asked for a compelling Hutt growth story to make Melling more than just another roading project amongst a long list of other roading projects. This story is now being written jointly between NZTA, GWRC, and Council which will slot-in ‘Making Places’ as its CBD growth story.
17. The Petone 2040 Spatial Plan is intended to be the Petone/Moera growth story that can be shared between NZTA, GWRC, and Council, and with Community and all other parties.
18. The Petone 2040 Spatial Plan has been guided by the following seven principles.
(i) Reinforce Jackson Street as the heart of Petone.
(ii) Establish three key gateway areas into Petone.
(iii) Intensify key corridors of Petone and Moera.
(iv) Revitalise the foreshore and The Esplanade.
(v) Enhance open green space.
(vi) Create an amenity spine from Alicetown through Petone to The Esplanade.
(vii) Enhance character areas.
(viii) Strategic Infrastructure.
19. Petone 2040 analysis was undertaken to understand:
(i) Maori and pre-European conditions.
(ii) Town planning processes that formed Petone.
(iii) Hazards including fault lines, tsunami, subduction, liquefaction, and flood.
(iv) Urban make-up including street pattern, block size, land use pattern & tenure, character and heritage distribution, open space, and amenity.
(v) Projects and plans proposed by infrastructure providers and other third parties.
Fig.1. Petone 2040 Four Priority Projects – public feedback at Petone Fair 2017.
20. Petone 2040 has confirmed four top priority projects of fifteen projects identified – see Fig.1 above. They are (not in any specific order) as follows:
21. Priority Project - Jackson Street.
a. PCB and JSP supported by community views indicate that Jackson Street is central to the heritage character and economy of Petone. Petone 2040 recommends that a Jackson Street master plan is undertaken to design and confirm the look and feel and how development should occur in Jackson Street. This may include a review of design guides, hard landscape design, relationship with public facilities, art and culture, open spaces, events, heritage street furniture including lights, bins, seating, cycle stands, signage, trees, car parking etc. Consideration would be given to the relationship between Jackson Street and surrounding areas and the management of road and footpath space. Jackson Street’s importance to the region suggests the master plan needs to be of a very high quality and the design could be procured through a design competition. A design will optimise delivery considering funding, staging, and externalities.
22. Priority Project - Traditional Character Areas.
a. Petone and Moera are known for their distinctive street patterns, modest residential plot sizes, state worker and early social housing, character housing stock, and proximity of residential with light and larger scale industry (eg. Imperial Tobacco and Unilever). This is a big part of the self-identity and sense of place for Petone and Moera. It is important to consider this in all Council work such as the district plan, housing growth and intensification, transport and open space planning, work with developers and business, and work with housing providers such as Housing New Zealand.
23. Priority Project - Strategic Infrastructure:
a. Strategic Infrastructure is shaping as Petone 2040’s top priority project.
b. There are significant projects by at least NZTA and GWRC that can greatly influence and enable Council’s and Community’s growth aspirations.
c. Petone 2040 is becoming viewed by NZTA and GWRC as the story ‘in waiting’ against which they could compare their decision making.
d. P2G, CVL optimised with public transport have the ability to improve the city’s growth and economy by altering land values and unlocking desired land-use and potentially on a large scale eg. creation of a new suburb (enabled by CVL) and a create a new strategically placed commercial area (enabled by P2G).
e. P2G’s main NZTA objective is to increase the ‘resilience’ of transport access between Wellington City and the Hutt Valley. However, P2G also places Petone West at the centre of the region, making Petone West the most accessible place in the region by road.
f. P2G could alter land values to reconfigure Petone West and with possible knock-on benefits to rearrange land-use across wider Petone.
g. P2G could enable Petone West to redevelop into the region’s premier good quality large format precinct. This could attract new and existing large format activity from other parts of Petone. With Urban Development Authority type intervention, it may become feasible to redevelop some existing commercial areas into high quality medium/high density housing to address Council’s population growth targets.
h. CVL would strengthen connections between Seaview/Gracefield, Eastbourne, and Wainuiomata with SH2. This would streamline domestic and commercial traffic movement and allow the de-tuning of the Esplanade of heavy traffic.
i. CVL, however requires that significant adverse effects are addressed eg. effects of increased heavy traffic on the Moera Community, the severance (by traffic) of walkability between local communities (eg. Waiwhetu, Moera, Woburn), and the adverse effects of standard approaches to heavy traffic route design in regard to noise, pollution, visual effects, effects on adjacent land values, and there is the added complexity of gaining RMA consent.
j. CVL’s current business case is being led by Council though NZTA does not see CVL as a high priority. To explore re-prioritisation NZTA are working with GWRC and Council to write the Hutt growth story mentioned previously in this report.
k. CVL as proposed by Petone 2040 could be treated as a multi-functional landscape that tempers and balances effects of heavy traffic with the things that are desirable to the community eg. open space, biodiversity, storm water management, amenity, walking, cycling, and access to public transport. This may help facilitate the redevelopment of existing commercial land into new good quality residential precinct whilst creating a new regional large format precinct as per (g.) above.
l. Petone 2040 could become the official common language between NZTA, GWRC, and Council to improve Council’s chances of delivering housing growth to scale, influence the priority of projects such as CVL, and take advantage of P2G and any future reworking of GWRC’s public transport network.
24. Priority Project - North Park Housing Precinct
a. North Park Housing Precinct not to be confused with the North Park Petone Rugby Club clubrooms and rugby fields, could be a new high quality residential precinct in north Petone.
b. North Park Housing Precinct according to initial analysis allows overtime for 1100 to 1300 medium/high density housing units on land immediately south of the Ava railway line currently occupied by The Petone Working Men’s Club, Mitre 10, Imperial Tobacco, Bouverie Street, North Park (Petone RFC), and bordered at the south by Udy Street and the Petone Recreational Ground.
c. North Park Housing Precinct has the potential to deliver a large amount of Council’s Urban Growth Strategy goal of at least 6,000 new homes by 2032. Its location is consistent with Council’s urban economic advice which says that Petone and the CBD are the only two areas where the market wants to go to deliver the bulk of the city’s housing growth.
d. North Park Housing Precinct sits in between the two highly desirable housing areas of Petone and Alicetown. It has excellent access to train and bus transport, is close to services and recreational facilities, employment, entertainment, sport facilities, McKenzie Pool, has convenient SH2 and quick access to Wellington City. It’s on the flat and is surrounded by what would become highly connected, walkable character neighbourhoods. These are highly sought after qualities that would attract the especially young families and young people that we need to drive our future economy. Med/high density will provide housing choices not freely available in Lower Hutt and more often sought in Wellington Central by people of all ages. We would expect a lower height cap of maybe 4 stories.
e. North Park Housing Precinct provides intensification of housing with the dual advantages of providing large housing numbers and without affecting the existing character and heritage housing areas that make Petone and Moera special.
f. Without intensification in areas such as North Park or the CBD we would need to find housing growth for 10,000 new people in our established neighbourhoods. Urban economics shows these areas could be Woburn, Hutt Central, Waterloo, Boulcott, Petone, Eastbourne etc. This would irreversibly change the character of these areas by removing trees (for housing) placing more demand on local car parking and facilities. There are also common impracticalities to delivering intensification in existing neighbourhoods eg. difficulty amalgamating sites and many of the desirable neighbourhoods shown above already have housing stock that exceeds what recent plan changes for increased intensification now allow.
g. North Park Housing Precinct has the ability to integrate and provide benefits to a number of projects across NZTA, GWRC, and Council. Some of these include a possible repositioned Ava railway station integrated with an express bus route on the CVL. The train station over passes would link Alicetown to Petone and integrate with a high amenity corridor running from North Park Housing Precinct through Petone Sportsville, Petone Recreational Ground, Buick Street, and to the Esplanade, which of course would be downgraded to a low volume route if the Cross Valley Link proceeds. An Ava Train and Bus Interchange would also serve as a central hub for walking, cycling, motor vehicles, and public transport in the East West axis on the CVL.
25. NZTA projects are typically prioritised upon delivering safety, efficiency, and resilience, however, NZTA also considers population growth because this provides to future demand of their assets and this determines where they invest now.
26. NZTA confirmed recently that Lower Hutt based transport projects (P2G the exception) are considered a low priority by NZTA. A poor Hutt growth story takes a large part of blame for the low prioritisation of CVL (>20 years) and Melling Interchange (indefinite which suggests much greater than 20 years).
27. NZTA and GWRC have started using Petone 2040 in their language and are gauging Council’s attitude toward growth and how Council may help them with their interests. Therefore, it is recommended Council signals commitment to growth by approving Petone 2040, and further to be consistent with how we use Petone 2040, and making it happen.
28. For example, Riverlink partners NZTA and GWRC both sought evidence of Council’s commitment to Riverlink by Council sending the consistent messages across all its Officers and Councillors, and that commitment be publicly displayed by Council allocating $39M budget in the annual plan. Both these have been managed and the Riverlink partners (NZTA, GWRC, Council) have formed sufficient trust to now write a joint Hutt Story to improve Riverlink’s chances of being delivered in its entirety.
29. Petone 2040 has the same NZTA and GWRC partners. It therefore follows that it is important for Petone 2040 to be managed and implemented as fully and consistently as per the Riverlink Project.
30. Petone 2040 needs to be agreed and implemented as the overarching strategy for all Council projects and all the projects over which Council may have some influence. If Council does not apply Petone 2040 consistently then the Petone 2040 may lose credibility and this diminishes the value of the joined-up Hutt story (based on Petone 2040) that we are developing with NZTA and GWRC. The community would lose faith and Council would be back to having an ad hoc system for managing and planning everything in Petone and Moera as described in clause (2) above.
31. For example, it is important that any work on Jackson Street including Petone Clock Walk is progressed through Petone 2040. It is equally important that Petone Sportsville, any potential Petone Community Hub project, District Plan Changes, Design Guides, Transport and Roading Projects, Public Transport, Housing, Commercial Planning, Recreation, Open Space etc, are all considered against Petone 2040. A lack of consistency eg. projects bypassing Petone 2040 would mean that other projects could do the same and Petone 2040 would become meaningless.
Options
32. Option 1.
a. Fully adopt Petone 2040 as recommended and with the expectation that Petone 2040 will evolve over time similar to CBD Making Places.
 |
Fig. 2 P2040 governance structure.
b. It is important that Petone 2040 has consistent long term advocacy and that this is provided through the Petone 2040 Community Group which consists of:
1. Tui Lewis Councillor
2. TBC City Development Committee
3. Pam Hanna PCB Chair
4. Mike Fisher PCB
5. John Donnelly JSP
6. Matt Roberts Community
7. Sue Piper Community
8. Tom Bennion Community
c. The Petone 2040 Group will work with Council’s City Development Committee to consider and provide high level advice on Council projects.
d. The Petone 2040 Group will periodically provide updates to Council’s City Development Committee.
e. Council’s Urban Design Manager will work with and facilitate the Petone 2040 Group’s interaction with Council.
33. Option 2.
a. Partially adopt Petone 2040. This is not recommended. Many of the benefits identified by Petone 2040 are linked to and triggered by the projects of other parties eg. NZTA or GWRC. Isolating out specific projects will diminish the overall story to them and likely weaken their interest. As shown through the Riverlink Project, things that on the surface appear as quick runs for one agency have an underlying reliance on the actions of their partners eg. NZTA are more likely to move Melling Rail Station closer to the CBD if Council commits to The Promenade which is viewed as a catalyst to growing the customer base for public transport.
34. Option 3.
a. Do not adopt Petone 2040. This is not recommended. Council not adopting Petone 2040 would be contrary to Council’s intentions when Petone 2040 was approved as a project in 2015. Those intentions being that Petone 2040 provides a framework by which Council and Community could work together to resolve issues and resolve progress for projects in Petone and Moera. Not approving Petone 2040 would risk Council’s relationship with JSP, PCB, and members of Council’s appointed members to the P2040 Group. This would return Council and Community to the ad hoc situation of pre-2015 where there was no guiding framework to prioritise Council effort and funding allocation toward Jackson Street or any other project in Petone and Moera.
b. Not approving Petone 2040 would annul Petone 2040 as a credible growth story to share with NZTA and GWRC, and may reduce Council’s ability to negotiate better prioritisation of CVL. This may also damage Council’s credibility to share growth stories with NZTA and GWRC, which may affect Melling Interchange, therefore Riverlink, and therefore Council’s ability to deliver the Promenade.
Consultation
35. Consultation was undertaken during 2016 and 2017 with Council Officers, NZTA, GWRC, WW, GNS, PCB, JSP, Community, and Councillors.
36. PCB supports Petone 2040 and at the PCB meeting of 3 April 2017 resolved “That the Board supports the Petone 2040 project recognising it as the most important initiative for Petone and Moera and endorses it as the overarching strategy for those areas.” See PCB Memo attached as Appendix 1 to the report.
37. Public workshop sessions were run out of Petone Borough Council Building and public comment was sought at the Petone Fair. See Figs. 1 & 3.
Fig. 3 Community workshop at Petone Borough Council Building 28 Jan 2017.
Legal Considerations
38. There are no legal considerations.
Financial Considerations
39. Petone 2040 funding is being consulted on during this year’s Annual Plan as follows:
· $50K 2017-2018
· $50K 2018-2019
40. $50K 2017-2018 (pending Council approval of Petone 2040 and funding) is likely to be mainly allocated to progressing the Strategic Infrastructure project (P2G & CVL).
41. $50K 2018-2019 funding if approved may go toward starting the Jackson Street streetscape design (if this is prioritised by P2040 and Council).
Other Considerations
42. Officers believe that this recommendation falls within the purpose of the local government in that it:
43. Provides an agreed plan that will facilitate Council’s and Community’s long term aspirations in Petone and Moera eg. shows solutions that enable appropriate housing growth that delivers on Council’s Urban Growth Strategy whilst not affecting the character areas that make Petone and Moera special.
44. Provides the Petone Moera Growth story that is being sought by NZTA and GWRC to be used by them as part of their prioritisation and planning of projects such as P2G, CVL, and public transport.
45. Shows how to avoid or mitigate adverse effects upon community and to maximise amenity from projects eg. CVL can be designed as a high amenity corridor that employs redundant rail land instead of being routed through Randwick Road. Adverse effects can be balanced out by treating CVL as a landscape with multi-modes of transport including walking, cycling, and public transport.
46. Spatial planning is cost effective because it provides a central story for NZTA, GWRC, Council and private sector to collaborate and in order to align objectives and processes, pool resources, pool funding to achieve mutual benefits and efficiencies not normally achievable by individual parties working on their own.
Terminology
· Council Hutt City Council
· CBD Making Places CBD Development Strategy
· CVL Cross Valley Link
· GNS GNS Science
· GWRC Greater Wellington Regional Council
· JSP Jackson Street Programme
· NZTA New Zealand Transport Agency
· P2G Petone to Grenada Link
· PCB Petone Community Board
· PVS Petone Vision Statement 2007
· Riverlink Joint CBD Project (NZTA, GWRC, Council)
· WW Wellington Water
|
No. |
Title |
Page |
|
1View |
PCB Memo 11 April 2017 |
18 |
|
2 |
Petone 2040 Spatial Plan (separately circulated) |
|
Author: Paki Maaka
Urban Design Manager
Approved By: Kim Kelly
General Manager, Strategic Services