THE NEW NAPIER

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 140, 10 December 1931, Page 11

THE NEW NAPIER

TOWN RE-PLANNED

FIRST SCHEME' UNDER ACT

STREET LINES CHANGED

A meeting .of. the Town Planning ISoard was held yesterday, when tho draft of the schemes for the re-plan-ning along town planning linos of the business area of Napier was considered. Mr. J. S. Barton, S.M., Borough Commissioner, was present, and explained the schema in detail. Now that the scheme has been approved by the Town Planning Board, it is to be deposited' in ttiri borough council offices, Napier, for. public inspection. Three weeks aro allowed under tho legislation for objections to bo received. At the end of that, period a committee of the' Town Planning Board will again meet to consider the scheme, together with any objections that might have .bsen. received. The Napier town planning scheme is the first in New Zealand since the passing of thp Town Planning' Act,. J926. ADDRESS BY MR. BARTON. Mr. Barton last .evening gave an interesting'address to members of the Wellington branch of tho Town Planning Institute- upon the progress made and the difficulties met in endeavouring to apply modern ideas of planning to Napier's business section, ruined and gutted by the earthquake and fire of 3rd February. Mr. Barton made a special point' of the necessity of the Napier authorities being given power to apply town-planning principles to a part only of Napier,-for had the requirements of the original Act been insisted upon too great a time would have elapsed before action could have been taken. It was quite apparent, said Mr. Barton, that it would-be nothing short of a crime to 'follow slavishly tho old building lines in restoring Napier, and the. fact that right through the .business .portion, of- the, 'town, there was an almost complete demolition of the buildings that, had occupied'the sites prior' to 'the earthquake presented a unique opportunity for securing, any improvements that involved; the alteration of building lines 'and a better layout. '...-. LAY-OUT OF NAPIER. The principal business street in prequake Napier was ..Hastings . street, roughly parallel with- the sea-front, .and 66 feet in- width. The next street, running parallel with this,' was Dal ton street, to the west; S6, feet in width, and aa one proceeded from Hastings "street down Dickens, Emerson, or Tennyson street, this narrow thoroughfare was tho only intersecting street-until Clivo square was'roachbd. • In'view- of the modern traflie requirements, it was obvious that Dalton street' was too narrow, aud furthermore, those in* terested in fire-prevention and firelighting represented that a widei" street was neodod' to make, aa effective, fire break. The force-of this'latter representation was-made quite apparent in the devastating fire which immediately followed on tho .earthquake.,' The attention of the Commissioners was therefore first directed to Palton street, then to the three- streetß which run east and west, Dickens street, Emerson street, - ancl' Tonnyspn street, A voluntary town-planning committeq did excellent work, and eventually produced to the Commissioners a map suggesting certain improvements, avid in subsequent deliberations' by the Commissioners and the ; Citizens' Rehabilir tation Committee some modifications were made. lTinanciq.l considerations operated to cut out soriie of the suggested improvements. Practical' difficulties, developed aiid led to -the abandonment of other features, and, in. some cases, second thoughts, or the wisdom that is associated with a multitude of counsellors, led to the dropping of still others. ■ ''•■ _ A new foature was adopted: it 'took the form of suggested-service-lanes running from Dalton- street .up the contrq of the, business blocks that lie between Dickens arid' Emerson streets, and between Emerson and Tennyson streets. The ob.ject.of. these improve, monts is to provide a rear access1 to all business blocks, facing the streets, and to relieve the streets\ of sewers, conduits, poles, wires, etc.-" SEVERAL STREETS WIDENED. The result of all these, deliberation? was that it was filially'decided to widen Dalton street by 24 feet, making it 60 feet, to widen Emerson street and Tennyson street by 10 feet, making them each 60 feet, to run a service lane 18 feet .wide between Dickens street and Emerson street, andanotherlane 12 feet wide betwoen - Emerson and Tennyson streets; to widen ,'Cliureh lane from approximately^ 12 feet to 40 feet, making » new 40 feet street to be called Church street connecting tho end of Browning street with Tennyson street} to make a new streot to be called Albion etteet from Hastings street-through to Marlnp Parade, and at Port Ahuriri to run a new stroet through from Bridge street to Hardinge road; also to splay 50 corners in the busy portions of the" town,' "Amongst those persons who have been interested enough to devote any serious attention to the matter, thore are very few who do not heartily agroe that all these improvements are-a modest and common-sense application of townplanning ' principles to Napier's needs, but it was not found possible td put the borough authorities into the position of accomplishing the. improvements without facing and overcoming very many' difficulties,'? said Mr. Barton, who then expressed high appreciation of - the assistance given, by the. Director and officers of the Town Planning; Department and members of the Town planning Board. Mr. Dawson and the board had given invaluable assistance in connection with, the regulations.and their amendment to enable a plan for tho destroyed sections of Napier to be given effect to.' Had the full requirements of the Act been applied End a plan for the whole town been prepared Napier would have had. to wait" two or three years before commencing to rebuild. • . COMPENSATION AND BETTERMENT. After speaking of the long negotiations necessary to' reconcile various 'views when proposals' concerning new alignments wore put. forward, Mr. Barton spoke of the excellent spirit "of the interested property 'owners in relation to the,; settlement, tho borough had been able to make in the matter of compensation. The great majority of owners bad .accepted the view that the widening o£- the streets was necessary and an improvement,to-the town, and they had.agreed to' give the necessary 10ft strip of land -and offset their claim fo.r. compensation, against the betterment' which they acquired. 'Ibis; naturally, did'not 'apply t.o corner sections, because' the 'lateral strip of 10 feet taken along one side meant a loss of 10 feet, of" frontage in; the intersecting street, The borough had recognised that a claim .for} compensation in such cases was reasonable, and in most cases had. been reasonably, met by the owners. In several cases the amount of .compensation had been agreed upon. In other cases the owners had been unable to conclude ;an, agreement as to the amount of compensation, but one term of the agreement .was that the matter should go on a friendly footing to an' Assessment Court to. have- the amount of compensation assossod. In some cases where there', were existing buildings or shells pr buildings posses-

sing a rehabilitation value,'.the extra cost in which'the owner would be involved had been recognised as a reasonable basis for a claim for compensation, THE COMPENSATION BILIi. "We. estimate," said..VAlr. Barton, "that the total costi to the- borough of compensation in connection, with the works we have outlined will bo ; between £22,000 and £23,000. When it is considered that we have widened 96 chains!of street in all, and created .12$ chains'of-new street,-acquiring private land in the business • portion ■of the town.for tho purpose, it will, I think, be conceded that tho matter h.as been concluded on a vory economical basis," It became apparent early that it w-as necessary to fix a basic date for tho purpose of assessing compensation. The vital question wns: "Should, that date ba before or after the earthquake-!" Tho decision was that it should be a date after the earthquake, and therefore the 4th February was fiiod. If the date fixed had been prior to the earthquakejthe danger would have been created that the amount of compensation to be paid by the borough would include depreciation: due to the earthquake, If, for instance, compensation was payable on the value as it existed on the vlst February, the borough alone would be paying for land on the basis of pro-'quaKo value, whilst, all others seeking...to- acquire landwould pay on post-quake Values. Mr. Barton-was ' a'eCOTded a hearty vote of thanks for his most interesting, and useful address.