KEY POINTS:
Property owner Veronica Krukziener is contemplating legal action over the latest Queen St controversy to introduce bus lanes and leave just one lane each way for cars.
Mrs Krukziener, who owns the building housing Farmers and at least one other building in Queen St, is upset at a 30 per cent retail downturn from construction work on the $41 million upgrade and the consultation process for bus lanes.
Auckland City councillors voted on Friday to extend the consultation period for bus lanes by two weeks but that may not be enough to stop Mrs Krukziener and other property owners and retailers challenging the process in the High Court.
Her lawyer, John Cavanagh, QC, told the urban strategy and governance committee that the consultation process was a "Clayton's process, designed to give the appearance of the form of consultation without the substance".
Mr Cavanagh said overseas experience showed bus lanes had an adverse effect on retailing. Construction projects in Lorne St and Hurstmere Rd, Takapuna, led to shops closing and shoppers going elsewhere.
"Already you have the fact that a large percentage of people who previously shopped within Queen St now go elsewhere. They are unlikely to return if the [bus lane] strategy proposed by the council is implemented," Mr Cavanagh said.
He said unless the council extended the consultation process by three months, a High Court review appeared inevitable where the council would lose.
Councillor Faye Storer said the bus lane issue had all the arrogant hallmarks of other central city botch-ups, such as the Queen St trees, Vulcan Lane and Khartoum Place.
"I say ignore them [property owners] at your peril because what they are saying will be proven to be right," she said.
Mayor Dick Hubbard said he felt "a bit blackmailed" by Mr Cavanagh with his claims of taking the council to court and winning. With a majority of committee members, Mr Hubbard voted to extend the public consultation period from July 25 to August 8 and referred Mr Cavanagh's submission to the council solicitors.
Officers were also asked to provide a cost-benefit analysis on the bus lane proposal and explain how bus number and patronage figures used for public consultation were different from a study done for Mrs Krukziener. Her figures showed 10,073 bus passengers used Queen St daily, compared with council figures of 40,000.
Later, Mr Cavanagh said he would be taking instructions from the Krukziener group of companies about possible legal action.
"It's a potentially serious situation which the council is head in the sand about. They promoted this project on the basis they were creating an environment that would bring people back to Queen St to shop. What we are saying is 'you haven't demonstrated that will be achieved and, in fact, the reverse could occur'."
Heart of the City chief executive Alex Swney said the business group was not opposed to bus lanes but was suspicious when repeated requests for transport modelling and economic analysis had been stonewalled.
"It has always been our contention that bus laning in isolation of improved bus services is plain dumb. A two-week extension in the consultation period will only protract yet another sorry chapter in this saga of the CBD upgrade," he said.
Meanwhile, the committee voted to spend a further $17.4 million on urban design improvements to five central city upgrades, including an extra $2.2 million on Queen St. That upgrade is now costed at $43.5 million, nearly double the $23.4 million budget.
Drivers inching their way around central Auckland road works are facing even more inconvenience, from a ban against turning right into Queen St from Victoria St East.
The council says the restriction introduced last week to the busy intersection will remain until the end of November, because safety barriers for the Queen St upgrade have narrowed road space to westbound traffic.
additional reporting Mathew Dearnaley
