STREET WIDENING

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 55, 14 September 1928, Page 15

STREET WIDENING

TIME TO PULL UP A LIVELY DISCUSSION A lively discussion took place at last night's meeting of the City Council upon the general question of street widening. The majority of councillors made it clear that in their opinion the time had come to call a halt.

The matter was opened by a clause in tho report of the Works Committee, ■which recommended that the previous resolutions regarding tho widening of Rintoul street and Adelaide road to 80: feet should bo rescinded. In placo of this plan the committee asked that tho following proposals should be adopted:— 1. That in respect of Eintoul ■street and Adelaide road from Luxford street to Britomart street the provision for -widening bo reduced from 80ft to 60ft by a building lino . bylaw. ;2. That a new deviation bb authorised from Eintoul street at the intersection of Waripori street diagonally across Luxford street to Adelaide road at junction wit*1 Britomart and Herald streets. Such- road to bo CO feet in' width when constructed. 3. That the necessary proclamation be issued in respect to this deviation. ■ ' . r4. That only the laud for the por- . tion of such deviation as lies between Luxford street and Britomart •treet (and upon which there are practically no buildings) be acquired at present. V 5. That the proposed extension of Luxford street to Stanley street be abandoned. The City Engineer, in a report upon the proposals, set out the following figures, supplied by the City Valuer, relating to the cost of acquiring land for the amended proposal as compared with tb» cost of tho widening were it carried out according to the first plans, i.e., Eintoul street and Adelaide road to 80 feet. The figures were: — ''- FOBMER SCHEME. Cost of land under the existing bylaws providing for the widening of Adelaide road and Eintoul street to 80 feet:— Slntoul street from Blddiford street to Luxford street 45,085 Adelaide road, Luxford street to Wal;efleld Park 14,670 £60,655 NEW PKOPOSAL. Widening Blntoul street from RlddlforU street to Luxford street to 60ft .... 23,685 Xew diagonal street from Waripori street to Luxford street to 60 feet .. 18,525 New diagonal street from Luxford street to ; Britomart street to 60 feet 4,500 Adelaide road from Luxford street to Brltomatt street to 60 feet 2,410 Adelaide road, Britomart street to Wakefleld Park to 80 feet 11,420 : s £60,540 Th© engineering cost of .the new diagonal streets is as under:— Wtriporl street to Luxford street .... 8,405 Luxford street to Britomart street .... 8,209 £16,614 The amended scheme had been carefully considered and was recommended for adoption, stated tho engineer in conelosion. FOB THE SAME MONEY. The chairman of the committee, Councillor H. D. Bennett, emphasised that the financial statement showed that the new plans for widening to CO feet, plus the driving through of tho new diagonal road, would be carried through at the same figure as the first proposal for widening the existig roadways to 80 feet, i.e., approximately £60,000. Provision had already been Bade lot widening Luxford street to 60 feet. TOO MUCH COUNCIL LAND. Councillor C. D. Morpeth opposed the proposal. It meant landing the council into another £60,000. Councillor Bennett: "We aro allaady committed to £60,000 under tho former scheme." Councillor Morpeth said that he thought it was about time the council pulled in its horns a little. Already tho council was the owner of a great deal of. land, and each time a street widening scheme was embarked upon more land was acquired. That was all very well, but there was not the note readiness to dispose of lands, and •onsequontly the council was the owner of a great many properties upon, which it collected no rates and from which, in most cases, it received nothing like a decent return. MANY PROPERTIES. Among such properties, said Councillor Morpeth, were 108 acres at Homebush, which cost goodness knows how much." , The Mayor: "£3000." There was land at Albomarlo, street, more at Queen's drive, bought twenty years ago at a cost of £8000, 120 acres at Wilton road, which cost £10,000 in 1919, all lying idle and bringing no return. Many pthor properties were occupied; the old fire station at John •treetf properties at TaTanaki street, which had cost £10,000, £7000, £5000, £14,000, and £12,000, all bought to widen; that street. No doubt if the council went on carefully it would get out of them, without loss, but in the meantime rates were lost. More lands wore held dnThorndon quay, £1250, £1400, £1680, £1000, £1094, and £1190. There were many more beside. Some were leased, but only a few of them were bringing in returns of 6 and 61 per cent, on the money invested. Others were bringing in only 2-1 to 3J per cent. On top of these properties, and many more he had not named, there was Quinton's corner, which was going to ran into a considerable sum of money, •Ten i though the Government was going to join in with the council. Again, there was the cemetery route proposal, which would possbily involve £25,000 to £30,000 for the purchase of land, very much more than was anticipated when the council agreed to the Access Commieion's report. The time had come, in his opinion, when tho council should seriously consider whether it was justified in acquiring more lands unless it was extremely urgent. Tho officers of the cuincil might very well go into tho matter of disposing of many of the •ity-owned properties. PROPOSALS UPHELD. Councillor G. Mitchell said he felt nrprised at Councillor Morpeth's statement. Surely it was not inferred that the council in the past had been acting as gamblers in land. All the land that had been bought had been purchased for a definite object and for tho benefit of the citizens. The council would probably receive benefit from the sale of lands when, the street-widen-ing was carried on. There might bo certain lands that could be sold. If tho council acted differently many years ago, probably many hundreds of thousands of pounds would have been saved. Now was the time to buy the particular piete of land before buildings were put 00 them. Councillor M. F. Luekie said the f£agW-al street would be a vast im■roreraflnt ».s ■well as providing a park-

ing area for motor-cars, tho owners of which attended functions at Athletic Park. The parking problem was a serious one for the Tramway Department. TO GO BY THE BOARD. Councillor T. C. A. Hislop said he thought the original' proposal to widen to 80 feet was unnecessary, and he voted against it. Ho was not prepared to support the proposal till he saw what it was and wha,t it involved. He wanted to have an opportunity of examining tho proposal, which was one of some magnitude. He moved as an amendment that all words in tho resolution after "rescinded" be deleted. The effect would be that the matter would be left entirely at large. The original proposal to widen Adelaide road and Eintoul street would, go by the board, and then if the amendment were carried tho^e who had not yet had the opportunity, of going into the question would have the opportunity, andl the matter would come up at the nest meeting of'he council. Councillor W. J. Gaudiu said tho matter was certainly published in tho newspapers before the council knew anything about it. He considered it was too important a matter to spring on the council. He agreed that councillors should have more time to digest the matter before they should vote on it. Figures and estimates sometimes turned out to be very wide of the mark. He referred to work in Bond street, and said that it had been stated that it would cost the council £50,000. He thought the council would be lucky if they got away with that sum. He would vote in favour of the amendment. Councillor H. A. Huggins said that the fact that the council could spend money on street-widening without going to a poll of ratepayers should make tho council more careful. There were many things the council wanted to do. Councillor"'W. H. Bennett considered that that portion of the work which embraced work on vacant land should be commenced at once. Tho diagonal route was the right one, and that portion between Luxford street and Britomart street should be done at once. Councillor E. Semple urged the council to bo. cautious. The council was up against the .problem of congested traffic, and had to look to the future. Wellington had to be visualised with its increasing traffic, but was it not more statesmanlike to tackle the problem now rather than wait and let a future council' tackle the problem with increased cost? The council had to tackle many street problems. In another five or six years every inch of the land would be occupied. The council should tackle tho problem generally in a courageous manner and look at the city as a whole. The revolution of transport had brought about problems that were not dreamt of previously. If tho council could save money by postponing the matter for a week or so, he would agree, but he did not want to see the council adopt a policy of false economy. j TIME TO CONSIDER. The Mayor (Mr. Or. A. Troup) said that the cost of tho new tram track and overhead gear would be £8300. The Tramways Department did not favour the proposal. There was no doubt that an improved route would result, but he wanted to issue a warning to the council. The time was coming when the council would have to seriously consider their position, and particularly in regard to street widening. At the present time the council required another £100,000 to provide for commitments that they would have to meet at a very early date. It was his intention to bring down, probably at the next meeting, a statement, not only of the council's commitments in regard to street widening, but a full statement of loans raised and the anticipated commitments in the near future. He was drafting it in his office recently, and ho was very concerned about tho total amount. He could commit the council to desirable things to the extent of millions, and things that would save money in the future.* Every business man was met with the same position; just how far he should go, and just how far he could afford to commit himself. MANY COMMITMENTS. "This council has to take a pull on itself," continued the Mayor. _ "The time has come when the council must seriously consider whether we have not committed ourselves to quite sufficient, in the way of street widening. We have proposals for the widening of. 39 streets, and there are proposals to add more. There aro street widenings and street wideniugs. In some cases wo are going to come out of the transactions without any loss, in some we inav make a littlo profit, and we should in future confine our attention to such cases, and not add to the liability of the city. Wellington is in au excellent financial, position, as good as any city in New.'Zealand and better than most of them, and we should at all hazards try to maintain that position." The council, continued Mr. Troup, was committed to take a poll upon tho question of eastern and western access, the tepid baths, Quinton's corner, and a great many more schemes with regard to civic improvement. In addition other, matters would come along that could- not be escaped, and he considered that the council should ! now stand still for a bit - and take its. bearings. Councillor B. Gr. H. Burn commented upon what he considered was a wrong principle, that the council was able' to raise sums as largo as £80,000 for I street widening purposes without appealing to the ratepayers, but had no | power to undertake such a work as improving means of access without taking a poll. It was wrong; above a certain amount the council should not be able to raise such loans without a poll. j Councillor H. D. Bennett said that he quite agreed that councillors should have ample information and time to consider the proposals, but as a matter of fact the scheme had been before the council in one form or another as far back as June. It had been before the Works Committee on various occasions and special visits had been made, and the plans had also beeu before the Tramways Committee. It could not bo said that the proposal had been rushed through, though somo had, ■ Quinton's •.orner for one. The Mayor: "Not Quinton's corner; it took three months." "Not as far as the council was concerned," said Councillor Bennett; "the! council took it in one swallow." ! The Mayor: "It came before the council on three different' occasions." The council had already agreed to a scheme for tho area, continued Councillor Bennett, and the new proposals involved no additional expenditure but gave a new length of roadway, and it was, having that in mind, that iie felt thei-e was an absence of sincerity in the criticisms made. The Tramways Department, it had been

said, did not approve of tho proposal; perhaps it wns a coincidence that tho Tramways Department's' wishes coincided with tho Mayor's wishes. It appeared to him that the Tramways Department was gradually getting out of liand and might have to bo told to carry out the policy of tho council. Councillor Bennett, in conclusion, said that he was willing to take the clause back to enable councillors to give it further investigation, but Councillor Hislop pressed for the placing of his nmendment before tho meeting. The amendment was carried by S votes to 7. Both widening schemes are dropped.