KEY POINTS:
Patrick Keane is not a name that springs to mind when looking back at the achievements in Auckland City over the past three years. But it would be hard to find another person who has had a bigger impact on the city's progress.
In December 2004, Justice Keane issued a landmark ruling rejecting the council's argument that it could not set rules on design. Aesthetics, in the words of the High Court judge, were an "indispensable concern in every planning regime and for every consent authority".
The ruling, overturning a resource consent for a 36-storey apartment tower over the historic St James Theatre in Queen St, set the platform for Mayor Dick Hubbard's council to implement a raft of urban design and heritage initiatives.
Starting with urban design, what has been achieved this term? Shoebox apartments, rabbit hutches - call them what you like - have been banned. Mediocre buildings are having a hard time getting past the council but a scoring system flagged to vet buildings has yet to be set up.
In June last year, the council appointed an urban design champion, Ludo Campbell-Reid, who, with a team of urban designers, oversees the nuts and bolts of every council project.
On heritage, the council has scored wins and losses. Mr Hubbard says he saved the Jean Batten Building as part of the Bank of New Zealand's new Queen St headquarters. The Art Deco Society and others labelled it facadism.
More than 16,000 villas and bungalows have been given extra protection in character suburbs and more buildings, mostly in the CBD, have been scheduled.
Many people were disappointed the council did not save Remuera's Coolangatta homestead from demolition and voted to keep the matter secret.
Another moot point has been the $96 million upgrade of the historic Auckland Art Gallery. The major renovation looks set to proceed after an unsuccessful challenge in the Environment Court over its integration with Albert Park.
In the bad luck category, the Aotea carpark roof was found to be leaking in early 2005. This led Mr Hubbard to launch Outside the Square, a wide-eyed look at refurbishing the entire square. Instead of the original $650 million grand plan, the council is looking at fixing the roof and upgrading the square for $96 million.
That makes fixing the drains and re-sanding St Heliers beach look like a snip at $10 million.
In the past three years, rates have jumped by 21.4 per cent overall and 32.7 per cent for households. The 3.6 per cent increase this year would have been higher if the council had not started a 10-year, $1.5 billion borrowing programme.
Water rates have gone up 19.6 per cent as part of a 10-year programme to give the council $280 million for spending on stormwater to free up money for spending on other things. Critics called it a slush fund for hiding rates increases.
On a positive note, the council has introduced targeted rates for things like transport, urban design and volcanic cones. These are fine in principle but are struggling to meet rising costs for projects like the $26 million Greenlane interchange and up to $17 million for upgrading Mt Eden.
Which brings us to Queen St, one of the most controversial projects in this term of council. It started with the Vulcan Lane and Khartoum Place fiascos with the council's idea of consultation to "only present options that are viable and that we want to do".
The attitude riled fashionistas in Vulcan Lane and several prominent Dames who rallied to save the tiled suffrage centenary memorial in Khartoum Place.
But it was nothing compared to the public outrage at the so-called "Queen St massacre" of trees just before Christmas in 2005. The council backed down on replacing exotics for a native theme. After 20 months' work on Queen St, a Herald-DigiPoll survey has found 54 per cent support and 40 per cent opposition to replacing trees, widening footpaths and introducing dedicated bus lanes.
The original Queen St budget of $23.4 million has nearly doubled to $43.5 million and the completion date of March next year cannot come soon enough for retailers.
On transport, pedestrians have come off best with 110km of new footpaths in the past year, albeit in grey concrete after councillors voted to ditch the city's distinctive red chip footpaths in character suburbs.
More bus lanes have been introduced along Tamaki Drive, Albert St, and Sandringham Rd among others.
The city-to-Newmarket dedicated busway has endured three years of delays and planning and cost increases. Work on the the $47 million project, which passes the university and hospital, is not due to begin until next year.
Thinking bigger still, the council ditched the eastern highway and started work on a revised $1.3 billion scheme of new roads, bridges and bus lanes aimed at boosting development along the eastern Tamaki corridor in conjunction with Manukau City Council.
The $80 million Vector indoor arena opened its doors in March and has become an instant hit.
Ports of Auckland's plans for the Tank Farm in September 2005 were met with universal disdain when it became clear that apartments, not public space, were going to dominate the headland. It took nearly two years for the council, Auckland Regional Council and its investment arm, Auckland Regional Holdings, to respond to public concerns with a 4.25ha headland park and other improvements.
In the meantime, a design competition has been launched for a bridge linking the Viaduct Harbour to the Tank Farm. The 2011 Rugby World Cup is the motivation for completing the first stage, an entertainment precinct along Jellicoe St.
The Rugby World Cup generated the biggest public debate in Auckland since Britomart when World Cup Minister Trevor Mallard offered an open chequebook to build a 60,000- seat stadium on the waterfront.
Auckland was given two weeks to say yes or no. An overwhelming number of people said no. Auckland City tried to have a bob each way. Yes, to a waterfront stadium but a bit to the east on ports land. The Auckland Regional Council said an emphatic no.
The Government baulked and it was back to Eden Park, whose $320 million grand plan sparked the waterfront option. That has since been scaled back to a $190 million upgrade. The council has put forward a secret plan to Government to pay $50 million to $60 million for the Cup, including about $23 million to upgrade Eden Park.
AND THERE'S MORE
* $23 million Westhaven upgrade announced.
* Council votes to keep 12.75 per stake in Auckland Airport.
* Matiatia coastal gateway to Waiheke purchased for $12.5 million.
* Newmarket shopping strip gets $6 million makeover.
* Added Hamburg to the list of sister cities.
* Council puts $9 million into affordable housing scheme.
* Council commits $6.9 million to new $12 million Auckland Netball Centre in Tamaki.
* Fireworks banned on Tamaki Drive.
* Developer George Bernard Shaw fined $80,000 for destroying protected pohutukawa.
* Otahuhu gets new $5 million recreation and youth centre.
* Mayoral Taskforce on Sustainable Development.
* Signed up to international programmes Cities for Climate Protection.
