The city centre — it is big, but how to keep it booming?

Press, 7 November 1978, Page 19

The city centre — it is big, but how to keep it booming?

Bv

STAN DARLING

"Kite flying” may provide the boost Christchurch city centre retailers need to keep their neighbourhood healthy and ahead of suburban competition The City Engineer (Mr Peter Secular) has stressed that kites flown for the new Down Town Task Force are just talking points, and not firm council policy. But those ideas — including a suggestion for the future of Victoria Square — are ways of edging towards central business district goals of the City Council’s zoning scheme. Some of the ideas are having their first flight, and will be rejected if they flop. City businessmen and other groups have been asked to make their views known on Mr Secular’s recent discussion paper, and come up with ideas of their own. Some ideas are in the final planning stages, such as the Cashel-High Street Mall. Originally reluctant to move too quickly because of their fears about parking, many businessmen are now exerting pressure to have the mall started soon. "I think increasing competition from suburban developments is encouraging both the council and private developers,” Mr Scoular says. “We get a lot of rates from the city centre for one thing. It’s important that its value not be lost.” The Christchurch city centre has never lacked flair. Green places and interesting buildings along its meandering river have done much on their own to break up the business district monotony of many cities. The Botanic Gardens, Hagley Park, and Cathedral Square are close enough to the river to tie things together. New ideas would do even more. Before the City Council decided that its future home would be in Ihe Miller s building, there was a plan to close Victoria Square to traffic when the proposed city administration building was built next to the Town Hall. One of the most farreaching ideas in Mr Scoular's discussion paper says there are still “sound reasons for reducing traffic and converting much of this area into pedestrian precinct.” Area-wide traffic control is a main engineering goal, and there are problems in operating the busy Kilmore - Durham - Victoria Street intersection. “On balance, it seems worth planning for approximately the same closures as would have been necessary” if the civic centre had been built

across Victoria Street along the Avon River, the report says. Another bad intersection, for traffic and pedestrians alike, is near the Square. “The intersection of Hereford Street with Colombo Street and High Street is one of the poorest in the city from the traffic management point of view,” the report says. Three signal cycles must be operated because High Street is a full two-w’ay-road. "The delays to traffic are quite serious, but the delays to pedestrians are even more so,” Mr Secular’s report adds.“ This is made worse by the general lack of width in the footpaths to accommodate both the moving pedestrians and those waiting at the corners of the intersection to cross.” In addition, the signal controller is old and needs replacing. Subject to money being available, “something can be done immediately,” the report says. The footpath on the west side of Colombo Street, just south of the Square, could be widened by taking part of the street, which needs only one north-bound lane. That would make more room for walkers and

street planting or planter boxes. “Some time ago, it proposed to make High Street ‘ln Only’ at this point,” Mr Scoular says. “This was not proceeded "with because of anticipated opposition. This may no longer be serious, since there has been general acceptance of the need to provide a mall in this area.” Also, he adds “the poor service to pedestrians must be obvious to all.” Reduction of traffic entering. High Street to one lane would eliminate the third signal phase need, and the intersection could be crossed at all angles by pedestrians in the familiar “Barnes Dance” movement, “It may be possible to go further by completely closing High Street to vehicles other than buses and possibly taxis,” the report adds. Mr Scoular says that it is important to keep improving traffic control, “and also the ease with which traffic can traverse the city centre.” At the same time, the council is well aware of the need to ensure that its traffic policies do not drive away shoppers. “Despite views to the contrary, there is quite frequently ample parking

available — short, medium and long term — in the city centre,” the report, says.

More than half of citv centre shopping is already done by people working there, or people who have come into the city for some reason other than shopping. One way to build up that kind of trade is to encourage office buildings in the central business district, along with the workers who fill them.

While making the centre more attractive is important, the report says, that one fact of modern consumer life cannot be avoided — “There seems to be little prospect of reducing the attractiveness of suburban shopping centres.”

Until detailed studies were done for the district scheme review, “we hadn't realised that city centre retailers were in fact absolutely — and not just relatively — losing ground.” Mr Scoular says. There has been a moderate growth of retail floor space since 1963 in central commmercial zones, but retail turnover for the same area has declined. That does not necessarily mean that profits are less, but the 1977 “City Plan Review” says that suburban turnover per square metre of retail floor space is rising, and “the apparent disparity between the suburban and central area standards

could have a snowballing effect.” From 1965 to 1975. there were 217,000 new square metres of buildings constructed in the city centre, an increase of 132.000 sq m when demolitions were taken into account. Of that new area, 60 per cent was for offices, 23 per cent for community buildings, hotels and clubs, and 12 per cent for car parking buildings. Retail accounted for only 4 per cent of the increase. Christchurch has a large central business area compared to world cities of similar size, and even cities with much higher p ipulations. The good use of that area to attract people will be one of the citv’s main planning challenges in the next decade. With an urban area population of 295.000 in 1976, the city has 71.1 hectares of central commercial zones. Auckland has 67.8 ha, and Wellington 55.7 ha. Phoenix. Arizona (552,000) has 51.3 ha; Sacramento. Galifornia (452.000) has 76.2 ha. and Tacoma. Washington (215,000) has 27.4 ha. The latter city was one whose city centre almost came to a halt when shoppers moved to the suburbs. A massive injection of money was needed to get its heart started again. An environmental management plan for the Christchurch centre will be part of the new district

scheme, with provisions for malls, semi-malls, trees, view protection, plaza-, building setbacks. and landscaping Not just the big projects are being considered Mi Scoular's report mentions the proposal to convert New Regent Street into a mall in the early 19705. a project that never got beyond the idea stage. "Alternatives are now being considered, and the possibility of a semi-mall or a ‘slow-way’ seems to have merit," the report says. Opposition to other previous proposals may also b<- gauged. Relocation of Madras and Montreal Streets through Latimer and Cranmer Squares could be kicked at again The original purpose was to make the one-way street system work more efficiently. "There has been some suggestion form or ganisations which previously opposed the proposal that they would noi now do so," the report says, "and it is being further investigated." Coming back to the area next to the Town Hall, across Victoria Street, Mi Scoular says that the coun cil still owns land there, and is buying other property in the block. “One option we will have to consider is use of part of that area for Town Hall parking,” he says. In the former civic centre plans, provision was made for basement parking which Town Hall patrons could have used.