KEY POINTS:
Hands up anyone who noticed the lack of a home for Auckland's heritage boat fleet in last year's grand plans for the redevelopment of Auckland's waterfront. I admit I didn't, so I'll be charitable and not embarrass the high and mighty of the design world who managed to hatch Ports of Auckland's glossy "design concepts" brochure in 2005 without a mention.
Ditto the authors of last year's Auckland Regional Council's "urban design framework" document, who if anything, only compounded the earlier blooper. They borrowed an illustration of the prow of a classic Logan "A" class keeler to head their page of "conceptual views" of "the waterfront Aucklanders have been asking for". Yet somehow they too managed to forget making any reference to housing such vessels in their 22-page document.
As you might have guessed, if the rest of us automatically assumed old boats would be part of the visionary mix, the less gullible old salts amongst us were less trusting. And, after some months of lobbying, they appear to have found sympathetic ears within the bureaucracy responsible for fine-tuning the Tank Farm design. Not that anyone cracking's open the champagne just yet.
In joint submissions in August and December last year, Classic Yacht Association of New Zealand chairman Tony Blake and Classic Yacht Charitable Trust chairman John Street argued for an "on the water living display" of significant and historically important heritage vessels. They said they were aware of 30 or so and noted there were also a number under restoration.
"While these vessels form a significant part of Auckland's maritime history, they are not particularly visible, nor do they form part of the backdrop of Auckland's waterfront as they do in other cities around the world such as Stockholm and Copenhagen, all of which have significant maritime history."
They envisaged a display of 20 to 30 of New Zealand's most significant heritage vessels. These would include a waka, yachts, launches, workboats and the large steam tug William C. Daldy. "All vessels are still in active use and would provide a wonderful public attraction as they come and go from their berths." They would be part of a heritage trail, including old buildings and other port facilities.
The proposal was to house this classic fleet in the 0.45ha of land at the base of Wynyard wharf reclamation just north of the Jellicoe St silos, that is being proposed as a stormwater quality treatment pond. The idea was to collect all the stormwater run-off in the area, divert it into a huge triangular excavated pond, plant a forest of water purifying plants, add an aerating water feature, and let the cleansed water spill down a weir into the sea.
As a focal destination point on the planned Jellicoe St entertainment strip, a water treatment plant, however green and sustainable it be, was hardly an optimal tourist drawcard. And John Dalzell, the project director hired by Auckland Regional Holdings to realise the grand plan, appears to agree.
There's been a rethink. The primary stage of stormwater treatment will now occur in less prominent waterways down the centre of Daldy St. It will then flow into a wetland area occupying just the top third of the planned triangular pond. This will leave much of the pond area available for the uses envisaged by the classic boat enthusiasts.
Mr Dalzell admits it's early days yet and decisions have to be made whether to open the Westhaven side of the pond completely to the sea, as the heritage boaties prefer, or to build a lock. A lock would limit the times the basin could be used and be expensive to operate. It would also limit usage to reasonably shallow drafted boats. The alternative of opening the area to the sea, would have the alternative expense of digging deep into the existing reclamation and below.
The good thing is, Mr Dalzell believes "the more of this sort of stuff we can get into the area the better. It adds to the rich tapestry of the area and brings it to life. A working waterfront needs to reflect what happens here today and what happened in the past." By this he includes the heritage steam tug, William C. Daldy.
Of course, in this town nothing is certain, but I think the classic yachties could risk a little tipple on having achieved a good first step.
