Plans for motels affect inner city housing

Press, 10 July 1985, Page 12

Plans for motels affect inner city housing

In Residence Carole van Grondelle PROPERTY REPORTER

Christchurch’s growing significance as a tourist centre is at present reflected in ' the enormous growth in motel construction within the inner city. Much of it is changing the face of established residential neighbourhoods. A recent report presented to the town planning committee of the Christchurch City Council, showed that planned motel construction, and building already underway in the Christchurch metropolitan area, represented an impressive 43.5 per cent increase over last year. If present plans are realised, an extra 316 motel units will be built in the city area in the next year or two — compared with the 726 units available to visitors to the city in March last year, i

This includes six new motel complexes, and one licensed tourist premises, which are presently proposed or under construction in the Christchurch City area. ■ ,

Three of these developments are on sites at the city end of Papanui Road. Two are located near the southern entrance to the city, on Lincoln Road and Hagley Avenue, while the remaining two are on Sherborne Street and Bealey Avenue sites. Together, these will provide 127 new units. A further five motel complexes in the city area, which could provide more than 101 new units, are also in the planning stages. Four are proposed for Papanui Road, and one for Bealey Avenue. Waimairi District and Riccarton Borough are also reverberating with activity on the motel front. Three motel complexes, incorporating 28 new units, are either being built or in the planning stages in Waimairi — one each on Riccarton Road, Yaldhurst Road, and the Main North Road.

RIGHT: A large motel complex is now being built on Deans Avenue, opposite the Chateau Regency, on a former residential site. Another three complexes are planned for Riccarton: two of these are on Deans Avenue sites (involving 46 units) and another 14-unit proposal for Riccarton Road. The president of the Christchurch Motel Association, Mrs Pat McMinn, fears that Christchurch will be “over-moteled” by these plans. She believed that competition is essential for maintaining a high standard in the industry, but she fears that the increasing concentration of motels along the main arterial routes of Papanui Road, Riccarton Road, and Bealey Avenue, may have detrimental effects on motels in more outlying areas, particularly if the tourism

boom that Christchurch is experiencing at present is not maintained. She also feels the concentration of motels on Papanui Road, in particular, may alter the character of the

inner city residential area. “I would hate to see Papanui Road become like Fenton Street in Rotorua, lined with motel after motel, with only a few

houses in between,” Mrs McMinn said. The assistant city planner with the Christchurch City Council, Mr John Dryden, agrees that this increase in tourist construction is likely

to have an impact on the residential character of the inner city, bringing both benefits and disadvantages. Traffic congestion is a problem, he agrees, but says that traffic is better concentrated on main arterial roads than on small, residential streets. There are no restrictions on the number of motels allowed to be built in a residential area, Mr Dryden explains. Plans must just conform to normal planning requirements such as adequate siting. Licensed tourist premises, on the other hand, are restricted to 3000 sq m in size. The present boom in tourist development is a cyclic process, Mr Dryden points out. It was matched in the early 19705, when the Chateau Regency, Noahs Hotel, and the Ramada Inn were built, only to level out later in the seventies, and the early 1980 s. Accordingly, he anticipates that activity will level out again after a few years. >