Guest Speakers
From:
Bob Parker
Date:
2007 Jun 14 08:06 UTC
Short link
City Mall :
There are two processes here and this has caused confusion for some people.
Process one:
This was the decision to renovate the City Mall and to initiate a formal
hearing to consider a change to the legal status of the underlying land back to
its heritage definition as a legal road.
I voted in favour of this. Funding had already been approved via the LTCCP
process and the vast majority of people believe the mall is well overdue for
refreshing. As part of this plan foundations for future light rail or a tram
extension are to be put in place, as well as a strengthened road base for a
narrow service lane to control the access of vehicles that currently service
the business’ in the Mall. I must say that as someone who is a regular mall
user I think the plans look great. I suggest that you follow this link to see
the plans and obtain more information about the revamp:
http://www.ccc.govt.nz/CentralCity/Projects/CityMall/
Process two:
Not yet underway but as a result of the above decision the actual legal process
to return to the underlining heritage definition of the land as legal road will
be carried out as the law requires. Independent of the revamp of the City Mall
structure, this is a hearing process that will determine the final use, if any,
of the previously closed roadways (Cashel - from Manchester to Oxford, and High
- from Cashel to Hereford.)
As a minimum we will have narrow service lanes defined, and at some future
point light rail/trams. Other than this all options are on the table. Other
than believing that at the least we should open the lanes up to bicycles
(currently illegal in the mall) I will wait and see what submissions to the
hearing bring before being part of the debate on the final use of the service
lanes.
Hope this helps with the understanding of the process.
Best regards,
Bob
.