KEY POINTS:
The Chelsea Sugar Refinery has bowed to public pressure and withdrawn a proposal for a detailed, mixed-use plan to guide redevelopment should refining cease on its prime Waitemata Harbour site.
Last year the company launched a complex proposal to rezone the 15ha refinery site so the District Plan could provide for alternative uses.
The company said then that the refinery precinct, including an open area known as the "horse paddock", would be better designated for a mixture of residential and commercial uses, with large areas of open space and buildings fitting in with Chelsea Park.
Its sale of 36.7ha of its grounds to the Chelsea Park Trust for public use was conditional on the District Plan being amended to allow re-use of heritage buildings and having new ones on the remaining company land.
But the delicacy of the deal did not deter opposing submissions from about 170 North Shore residents, the city council and Auckland Regional Council, though the latter two agreed to chipping in a big share of the $20 million park purchase.
Chelsea general manager Bernard Duignan said yesterday that it was modifying its approach having heard the concerns raised in public submissions on the notified plan change.
He said the company had put up a detailed concept plan including the number of residential units and what combination of commercial and residential uses would be there.
"This was a catalyst for people reacting," he said.
The detailed plan calling for a "mixed use overlay" had been withdrawn.
The company was now seeking a more appropriate framework for assessing future applications to redevelop the site, incorporating a plan that was more general in outlining the policies, principles and rules for reuse rather than a detailed plan, and looking perhaps 50 years ahead.
The new plan would be based on preserving heritage buildings and conserving key landscape and ecological features.
It would seek recognition that a maximum of 528 residential units was appropriate - subject to sensitive design.
Mr Duignan said there had been much concern about the fate of the "horse paddock", which was open land.
He said it would remain part of the refinery site, but the Chelsea Park Trust had the "first right of refusal" on that land.
Birkenhead-Northcote Community Board chairman Jennifer Yorke said the refinery was a good corporate citizen and had a right to develop its land.
She said it looked like a compromise was being found to end a worrying "them and us" situation, which could force the company to take its case to the Environment Court.
Key To Conservation
* The Chelsea Sugar Refinery site covers more than 15ha.
* The new plan will preserve heritage buildings and conserve key landscape and ecological features.
* A maximum of 528 residential units is thought appropriate, subject to appropriate and sensitive design.
* The open land of the "horse paddock" will remain part of the refinery site
