Board seeks car park extension

Press, 19 November 1982, Page 10

Board seeks car park extension

The North Canterbury Hospital Board’s request for a car-park extension in a special inner-city residential zone might be more acceptable if the board could as-, sure that residential units would be built after the extension, a Christchurch City Council planning hearing was told. Critics of the car-park at 32 Cashel Street said that the board was in no position to give such an assurance. Inner City Operation Neighbourhood members, who successfully fought against nearby clinics in Cashel Street, said that the Hospital Board could sell the site to someone who would develop a conforming use if it could not do the job itself. Extended car-parking permission would mean a continued obstacle to urban renewal in the neighbourhood, said 1.C.0.N. members. Permission to use the site for temporary parking was granted by the City Council in 1976, shortly before the Hospital Board bought the property. A one-year extension expired in September. The Hospital Board wants a further extension to September 18, 1985, while Christchurch Hospital site redevelopment is underway. The City Planner, Mr W. T. Williams, said that the Planning Tribunal had said that the City Council “should take a hard look at the way it is administering the Residential 5A zone, with special reference to the question of nonresidential uses.” However, he said that there were public interest aspects which might benefit the board’s case, especially if

the board could convince councillors that the car-park was required for the efficiency and functioning of hospital services, and if the board could ensure that the site, after three years, would be committed for residential development. “In this part of the Residential 5A zone at the present time, the likelihood of redevelopment of any sites for residential uses seem quite remote,” said Mr Williams.

Over the last 10 years, only six new residential units had been built in the zone, excluding units in the Arts Centre and the Old Normal School conversion project. No residential development had occurred in the car-park’s vicinity. However, 1.C.0.N. members said that such development would have occurred if sites had been available. While the Hospital Board continued to use the site as a car-park, residential uses were discouraged in that part of the zone. The Hospital Board's chairman, Mr T. C. Grigg, said that the board had not promoted the original application for parking consent. The board would have to build new residential accommodation to conform with zoning requirements, but Health Department " loan money for such purposes was not a high priority. “The board cannot fund such building out of the limited grant that it gets at the expense of patient-care facilities,” said Mr Grigg.

The banning of nearby clinics in a High Court decision meant that non-con-

forming uses in the area would be substantially reduced.

There was a short-term parking problem as the hospital’s third stage development approached, and the 31 parking' spaces were needed. If the site were not used for parking, it would "remain a wasted asset until the board could see its way clear for redevelopment.” said Mr Gri & g ’ As it was, the well landscaped car-park did not detract physically from the surrounding area. The carpark was used bj’ 46 staff members, many of whom had duties beyond the Christchurch Hospital site. Some users worked in communitycare projects. Those services could not work so effectively if the car-park was not available.An 1.C.0.N. member, Mrs Kathleen Hollobon, said the original parking consent would not have been granted if original assurances had not been made that the use was temporary. There was no assurance that the board would not seek extension after three years, although board’members said that that was not their intention. Mrs Hollobon said that the loss of two clinic sites in the block should reduce the board’s need for off-street parking there. Another 1.C.0.N. member, Dr J. L. Cameron, said that the board could use appropriately zoned land in Hagley Avenue for parking. The hospital had been in a transitional stage for years, he said, and its parking problems were not new.