Merivale Mall might need 57 more car-parks—lawyer

Press, 24 July 1985, Page 9

Merivale Mall might need 57 more car-parks—lawyer

Another 57 car-parks could be needed at the Merivale Mall to bring it in line with the District Scheme requirements, the Planning Tribunal heard in Christchurch yesterday. Counsel for the Christchurch City Council, Mr David Palmer, told the hearing that the increase was needed because of a mistake made in calculating car-parking requirements when a building permit was issued for the mall in 1975. He said another 80 carparks could be added to the mall if all the land in the block bounded by Aikmans Road, Akela Street, and Office Road was zoned for car-parking and if G.U.S. Properties, Ltd, later acquired the land. A block of commercial land, some flats, a scout

den, and a vacant lot owned by G.U.S. were the only areas in the block not occupied by shops or car-parks. Mr Palmer said the council would now suggest to the tribunal that all the land in the block be zoned for carparking. The boundaries formed by the roads would be a “defensible agent” in any further attack on surrounding land by the mall. A road boundary for the mall and car-park would give “more certainty" to the Merivale Mall Precinct Society than small pockets of land, surrounded by carparks, which could be “chipped away.” “We seem to have been before the tribunal year in year out on this issue because the boundaries are not rational. The roads would be a defensible

boundary and I would hope we would not be back here every one or two years,” said Mr Palmer. An engineering assistant with the council, Mr Richard Huntington, said another 69 car-park spaces would be needed if the arcade and display areas of the mall were included in car-park calculations. The total number of spaces needed in the car-park would then be 388. A member of the Merivale Precinct Society, Mr Stephen Matheson, said the society was dismayed by the difference in car-park-ing figures calculated in 1975 and those calculated recently. The society contended that only 335 spaces would be needed, 16 more than the present 319. It was prepared to accept the re-

zoning of the land containing flats to allow for carparking, he said. The society believed that present council policy did not require parking for arcade areas. A town planner, appearing for G.U.S., Mr Edward Heymel, said his calculations on car-parking requirements were essentially the same as the council’s. He said 51 car-parking spaces could be gained by developing the vacant lot and the site of the scout den. The site containing the flats would yield another 27 spaces. Mr John Fogherty appeared as counsel for G.U.S. The tribunal, comprising Judge Skelton (chairman), Mrs N. J. Johnson, and Mr J. F. McKenzie, reserved decision.