KEY POINTS:
Opponents of the plan to turn one of Auckland's oldest pubs into a waterfront apartment building say council inaction has left the hotel open to partial demolition.
Claudia Page, of the Masonic Friendly Society, told North Shore City councillors yesterday the hotel was destined in 1994 to be scheduled in the proposed District Plan for Category A heritage protection.
But the owners negotiated for only two street facades and part of the roofline and parapets to be protected.
"Heritage campaigners were unhappy with this result, as it effectively removed all the protection from an even older boarding house - circa late 1850s - and left the hotel at serious risk of being a victim of facadism, or partial demolition."
Mrs Page said a petition called for the council to make a scheme change to list the Masonic and accessory buildings as Category A Heritage under the district plan.
An amendment to the Resource Management Act in 2003 had elevated heritage to a matter of national importance.
"This should have triggered a full review of all heritage at that time," said Mrs Page.
Council environment group manager Trevor Mackie said the Masonic was already on the heritage schedule, which gave parts of it the highest level of protection.
He said A and B heritage categories on the schedule gave some buildings greater or lesser importance in heritage terms.
The council was working on a package which would improve all heritage schedules and revamp planning rules.
A case was being prepared for budget approval next June, which would make heritage part of the District Plan Review in 2012.
Mr Mackie said this heritage strategy project was separate to an urgent move flagged in May, when a working party of councillors was set up to look at a variation to the Urban Design Code, which will apply to the redevelopment of business 1 zoned sites abutting residential 3 zone.
There are 24 such sites, on which old shops could become three-storey apartment buildings, in the heritage areas of Devonport, Northcote Point and Birkenhead.
Hotel owner Peter Thwaites told councillors alterations to the old look of the hotel were done in the early 1950s - when the Masonic and Esplanade hotels held Devonport's only liquor licences - to squeeze more people in.
The heritage adviser for the apartment project, Heike Lutz-Strulik, said the hotel facade would be restored to its 1900 look. She was preparing a conservation plan for the site.
"We have assessed all heritage elements within those buildings and done these within national and international standards."
MASONIC HOTEL
* 10 apartments and cafe proposed for pub established in 1860s.
* 1400 people signed a petition for highest protection.
* 302 submissions ready to argue at the resource consent hearing in November.
