TOWN-PLANNING INQUIRY.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 91, 18 April 1929, Page 9

TOWN-PLANNING INQUIRY.

DIRECTOR EXAMINES APPEAL

FIRST IN NEW ZEALAND.

The first inquiry to be held in NewZealand under the provisions of the Town Planning Act was conducted at the Devonport Municipal Chambers this morning by Mr. J. W. Mawson, director of town planning. The appeal was instituted by Mr. A. G. Quartley, who is the owner of a section on the corner of Ha nana Street. In 1024 he submitted a subdivisional plan of this section to the Devonport Borough Council with a proposal that it should be regarded as a site for shops. Thi/s plan was then provisionally approved. When the provisions of the Town Planning Act came into operation in 1928, the Borough Council zoned its shopping areas and did not include Mr. Quartley'a section. The matter thus came under the jurisdiction of the Town Planning Board, which has to decide whether the action of the Borough Council ean be sustained and what compensation, if any, must be awarded to Mr. Quartley.

Mr. Mawson stated at the outset that it was his function to collect the facts.

Mr. Quartley reviewed the circumstances attached to the ownership of the property, and claimed that the site in question was eminently suitable for suburban trade. In reply to a question by the director he definitely asserted that the area would be improved by the addition of shopping facilities. He claimed that the section in question used as a residence would not be employed at anything like its economic value to the community.

Mr. Mawson observed that it is not possible by the simple process of subdividing land to create a chopping value. That was controlled by the economic factors operating over the whole situation. If Mr. Quartley was injured by not being able to erect shops, it followed that the adjoining property owners would also be prejudiced by the absence of shopping facilities.

Mr. E. Aldridge, Mayor of Devonport, outlined the facts which had influenced the Borough Council in producing its zoned plan. The site in question was semi-terminal, and not central. They had zoned with regard to the future extension of residences through Hanana Street to an arterial road connecting with Belmont, where undoubtedly shopping facilities should be provided. They had carried out the provisions of the Town Planning Act and were endeavouring to prevent a fine residential suburb being peppered with small shops. Objections to the proposed erection of shops were also laid by several residents. Mr. Mawson then visited the 6ite, and promised to forward the decision of the Town Planning Board at an early date.