KEY POINTS:
The company behind Soho Square in Ponsonby is facing questions over a lack of retail and entertainment facilities planned for the controversial development.
The long-running Soho saga finally reached a public hearing yesterday where the developer, Marlin Group, aired its latest plans for the old DYC vinegar factory site, just back from Ponsonby Rd, in Williamson Ave.
Marlin is seeking resource consent to breach the permitted building limit on the 1.3ha site by 80 per cent and more than double the height limit in places.
The company already has resource consent for some work on the site, including the big hole in the ground for five levels of underground carparking.
The overwhelming majority of nearly 900 submitters oppose the size and scale of the project in the heritage suburb.
Soho development director Paul Hudson yesterday said Marlin's vision for the site was to "create a branded entity that offers an exceptional leisure, entertainment, living and working environment which complements the culture and vibe of Ponsonby".
But a shift in emphasis from earlier plans for an "urban village" with shops, restaurants, cafes and a cinema to a bigger emphasis on offices drew a lot of attention at the hearing.
Leigh McGregor, one of four planning commissioners hearing the resource consent application, said she was concerned that putting offices at ground level would make the area "fairly dead".
Auckland City Council urban planner Nicola Williams said in a report that the lack of retail and entertainment uses proposed within Soho, particularly at the ground level, would not provide a vibrant and socially engaging public realm. It could lead to safety issues and people not using Soho, she said.
University of Auckland associate professor of architecture and urban design Clinton Bird, hired by Marlin to undertake a review of Soho, said more retail activity at ground level would be a good outcome.
Professor Bird said the latest Soho proposal was a "worthy and exciting new development" which, while pushing the development controls on the site, would nonetheless protect and enhance the urban scale, character and vitality of Ponsonby.
He said there could be more than the 53 planned apartments on the site, but the residential population would result in a highly desirable "mixed use" 24-7 occupation.
Plans for a dome on top of one building fronting Williamson Ave attracted opposing views. Nicola Williams said the dome would compete and possibly steal glory from two nearby scheduled heritage buildings, including the old Ponsonby Fire Station.
Architect Jeremy Whelan, whose company Ignite Architects is designing Soho, said the dome signified the entrance to Soho from Williamson Ave. Besides, Sky Tower had already stolen the glory when looking up Williamson Ave to Ponsonby Rd, he said.
Planning lawyer Russell Bartlett, acting for Marlin, said the council had discretion under the district plan to grant the extra floor space and height being sought by the company. "The proposal is for a building of high architectural and construction standards. It is a positive response to the opportunities providing by the zoning," Mr Bartlett said.
The hearing continues.
