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Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 98, 19 January 1933, Page 19 (Supplement)

tfKEjS E actual re-planning of Napier, of course, liad been 't’ult'dl to those central blocks which were destroyed by ? sllOcl< alul lirc ’ lllc tinie ■ imjwt may come when it will be possible to extend the good work to the outer portions of rhe business area, but for the rime being town-planning is keeping place with reconstruction. To use a metaphor to which the circumstances lend a .somewhat grim significance, no fresh ground is being broken. The town-planning carried out in conjunction with the rebuilding of shops, offices, and public buildings, may be divided into five distinct sections: 1. The widening of 1)6 chains of principal streets which, before the earthquake, had become inadequate for the requirements of modern traffic and business conditions. 2. The rounding-off or "splaying" of corners to achieve greater safety for traffic by widening intersections and creating better visibility and to improve the appearance of the streets. • 3. The creation of “service lanes,” .providing access to the rear of buildings in two of the principal borough blocks. 4. The improvement of existing open spaces for recreation and parking purposes. ’ b<->-ti'fvln.g of Marine Parade and the new foreshore created by the wKieumg or the beach.as a result) of the quake.' True Town-Planning Work. The last-named improvement is referred to in a separate article, for special recognition is due to an asset estimated to be worth thousands of ■ pounds to the town, and in connection with which a further beautifying programme of an exceptionally ambitious nature is being considered. The work of a true town-planning character is that carried out in.the business area where thousands of square feet have been added to the existing thoroughfares. Long before the earthquake residents who tlfought of Napier’s future realised that the old system of town planning was bound to raise serious problems when traffic, especially motor traffic, increased. On various occasions the question was discussed, it being agreed that street-widening was essential in the ease of certain of the side streets. ft is difficult when times are normal and there is no particular incentive beyond the civic pride of a minority to foster: community action. In 1928, however, business men and property owners of Emerson Street met and considered the future of their thoroughfare. An important and increasingly busy link, Emerson Street was then too narrow to cater adequately for the volume of traffic habitually in it. It was a side street pressed by progress into the role of a main street, and playing the part only Io the best of its meagre ability. Planners Kept Their Heads. The property owners agreed at that meeting to donate to the borough portions of their frontages totalling 10 feet. Two buildings erected subsequently wore set back the required distance, but there were many problems, including the currency of leases, in the way of bringing the scheme to speedy completion. Then came the earthquake and fire, laying waste the town, transforming with tragic suddenness the lives of the people, shattering _ tranquil. customs, and creating the urgent need for reconstructive action. Many plans for the future were temporarily forgotten and others were abandoned as part of an era that had been swept away overnight. But amid the clamour for reconstruction and rehabilitation, the town planners kept their heads. It would have been but natural, in the face of disaster and the mammoth task of rebuilding, if their scheme, like many another, had been abandoned. Instead, they grasped the opportunity that had arisen. “When the quake came it was apparent that unless concerted action were . taken the town would drift back to the old way of things, to the condition we had previously been seeking to alter,” Mr. A. B. Hurst, ~a Napier business man, ; told “The Dominion.” Mr. Hurst is one ‘ of those who have taken leading honor- 1 ary parts in the reconstruction of Na- ' pier. Especially interested in the subject of town planning, he has studied j the town’s present any future require- , inents closely, putting into effective . practice his belief that? town planning is to a large extent a matter of com-mon-sense. Moving Out of the Way. “It was partly to prevent the town going back to the old order of things that temporary business premises were built in the Square,” Mr. Hurst said. “Had we encouraged the desire to rebuild at all costs, to rush back to the ruined buildings, clear away the. debris, and run up any sort of a structure, the difficulties in the way of street improvement would have been as great as ever. Instead the business people for the time being moved out of the way and settled down in their community buildings until they , could get their bearings. And in the meantime it was possible to take stock of the situation and plan for the future.” One of the most formidable of the tasks faced by the town-planning committee, headed by one of the commissioners, Mr. L. B. Campbell, was that of unravelling the legal tangles involved. Though legislative machinery existed, it was found that tin's did not function adequately or speedily enough to meet the extraordinary situation which existed. It was not a time for ‘ Involved legal processes, protracted no-