SITE FOR TOWN HALL

Press, Volume C, Issue 29434, 9 February 1961, Page 8

SITE FOR TOWN HALL

Appeals By Land

Owners Heard

Objections to the designation of the block bounded by Cambridge terrace, Worcester street, Montreal stree tand Hereford street as a reserve for a civic centre and town hall were heard by the Town and Country Planning Appeal Board yesterday. The hearing lasted all day and the board reserved its decision. The Canterbury Club and one other land owner appealed against the city Council’s designation in its zoning section of the district plan.

The appellants drew attention to the claims of the block bounded by Manchester street, Gloucester street, Latimer square and Worcester street, which houses the council offices, as a site; but witnesses called for the council were firmly in favour of the Cambridge terrace site.

Mr A. C. Perry appeared for the Canterbury Club, and Mr P. H. T. Alpers for Mrs A. M. E. J. Clifford, the owner of about an acre of the block. Mr W. R. Lascelles represented the City Council. The club had owned the site since the 1870’s, Mr Perry said. In 1955 the club had received word from the City Council that it was seeking a site for a town hall and administrative block, and that a panel of architects had recommended the club site over two other main sites considered. There had been various discussions over the years, and the club had made it clear that it was not a seller and that the difficulties of an alternative site and new building Were so great as to put the club in jeopardy.

It would lose revenue through the loss of the area it let for parking. It had no other funds beyond its subscriptions. There should be as little interference as possible with the rights of persons affected by the zoning, Mr Perry said, and it must be examined to see that the scheme was not just a whim of the council or councillors, how much land was required and whether alternatives were available The chairman (Mr F. F. Reid. S.M.) said the board was not charged to examine other sites, "but only whether the taking of your clients’ property is justified or desirable. We are not going to express any views on the merits of other alternative sites.”

Mr Perry submitted that the approach to the case should be the same as would be adopted in the acquisition of land, and that if there was any doubt at all it should be resolved in favour of the land owners. Council’s Needs There must be a full assessment of the needs, present and future, of the council and a full examination of its present holdings and the capacity of those holdings. "Councils come and go,” Mr Perry said. “The council of a few years hence might change the scheme. There are indications that the site has not received the approval of the people concerned." The effect of zoning could be almost as serious for an owner as the acquisition of the land because it restricted the use, saleability and possibly value. Mr C. E. Hoy, a valuer, who gave evidence of the land owned by the City Council in the Manchester street to Latimer square block, said he considered that with modern architecture and multi-storey buildings, there was room for big developments on that site. To Mr Lascelles, he said the elub buildings were old, but had many years of usefulness and were suited to the purpose for which they were used.

Re-examined by Mr Perry, he said the council had had its chances in the past of buying land in the block containing its . offices, but had not taken them.

Mr Hay said the replacement value of the club buildings was estimated at £BO,OOO Mr M. J. W. Davis, a surveyor, said that the land in Gloucester street owned by the National Airways Corporation was sold for £21,500 when it was zoned residential, and sold to the corporation for £27,550 when the zoning was changed to commercial.

The president of the Canterbury Club (Mr C. J. Ward) said the area in which the club’s property was situated was already predominantly commercial in character. The club had not taken any part in controversy over the town hall sites.

Mr Alpers said that the council should have had a formal resolution that it would acquire the land, rather than a vague declaration that it favoured the site. He developed legal arguments on the zoning and designation of the area. "Anxious to Press On” The City Council, as the elected representatives of the people had accepted the challenge to establish a civic centre, said Mr Lascelles It was anxious to press on Realising that a convenient and cheaply available site was not always to be found, the council had sought the assistance of architects, and they had chosen the club site, with unanimous endorsement by the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Institute of Architects, Mr Lascelles said. The council had twice affirmed that the club site was the one it wanted. “We are now laying the foundations of another phase of community progress in Christchurch and its environs,” he continued. The council regretted that a club might be inconvenienced, “but when the interests of hundreds of thousands are involved, any special consideration of the few is hardly merited. The interests of the general outride those of the particular.” At the .same time, the council was anxious that justice, full justice and not just niggardly justice, would be done to the club, Mr Lascelles added. * ■Business District

Miss N. Northcroft, the Regional Planner, said it was not in accordance with sound town planning principles to allow a central business district to spread out over a large area. Zoning of the area. Including the parts surrounding the dub block. as residential C would be appropriate, she said, and that would allow the development of educational activities, libraries, museums, art galleries, churches, and other places for public use. “There is an opportunity here to create a unique and beautiful area that would give pride and purpose to the life of the city,” Miss Northcroft said. A civic centre was one of the uses for which provision should be made in the centre of the city, and wherever pos-

sible should be located so that it was easily accessible to the business centre but did not use land which should be available for the proper development of the commercial centre itself. It should also have a beautiful setting. The block in dispute met all the requirements, she said. To Mr Perry, Miss Northcroft said she appeared as a citizen qualified in town planning, and not as an officer of the Regional Planning Authority. “Not a Dream” “I suggest this is a dream you have had over a number of years,” said Mr Perry. Miss Northcroft: Not a dream; an idea. A hope?—Both. She agreed that five cases involving residential zoning in the precinct had failed. The chairman said the board was dealing with the Canterbury Club property and Mrs Clifford's and was not concerned with the rest of the land in the area.

The city engineer (Mr E. Somers) set out the history of town hall and civic centre negotiations. Of the present council buildings in Manchester street, Mr Somers said, the staff was already overflowing and as the city grew, complete rebuilding would be necessary as the present building could not be extended upward. It would be more economical to build a new building on another site and sell the existing offices to someone they would suit. He agreed with Mr Perry that in the Manchester street block the council owned 1 acre 2 roods 3 perches with a capital value of about £170,000. Taking in the M.E.D. block there was a total of about 4} acres owned by the council in the two. blocks. Asked if he would agree that there- was ample room for building a town hall and civic centre, Mr Somers replied: “Not for wise building.”

He added that the work of the M.E.D. was expanding rapidly, and it must make provision for that expansion. The council’s town planning officer (Mr J. C. Foster) told Mr Perry that the council had not considered going on to the M.E.D. block for a town hall and civic centre. He thought the land was required by the M.E.D itself.

To the chairman, Mr Foster said that if the area had not been designated a reserve, he thought the bulk of the area would have been zoned residential C, with possibly the Cambridge terrace frontage as commercial B.

Of legal argument earlier by Messrs Perry and Alpers, the chairman said it seemed that the council may have fallen into error by purporting to have zoned the area when all it had done was designate it Mr Lascelles was given leave to make written submissions on the point.