Chaos and abuse in Auckland Council’s Downtown Car Park debate

An Auckland Council meeting erupted in anger yesterday during debate on the sale of the Downtown Car Park on Customs St West.

Mayor Wayne Brown was repeatedly challenged over procedural matters and there was abuse on both sides.

At around 3pm the meeting went into confidential session to receive a presentation from Precinct Properties, the developers who are buying the building. It was expected an attempt would be made to stop the sale.

But sources in the meeting said councillors were still arguing at 6.30pm and there was no motion on the table to stop anything. This suggests opponents of the Precinct deal did not believe they had the numbers to call it off.

The meeting was sparked into anger almost immediately after it began at 10am, when Brown said he had declined several requests to address the council.

One of these requests was from property developer Andrew Krukziener, who opposes the sale. Brown pointed out Krukziener had already made a presentation to the council, at last week’s meeting of its Transport and Infrastructure Committee. Another request was from the business group Heart of the City.

A visibly furious Councillor Mike Lee objected to them not being heard, and was supported by Councillor Christine Fletcher. Brown repeatedly asked for quiet as Lee continued to object, leading Councillor Shane Henderson to call for “some respect” around the council table.

Brown told Lee, “Be quiet or I’ll have you removed.”

At that, Krukziener, who was sitting in the public gallery, called out, “Despicable!”

Property owner Andrew Krukziener, who wants to stop the sale of the Downtown carpark building.

Last week, Krukziener told the Transport Committee , “If you pursue this... the likelihood of my group suing you is far greater.”

Councillor Chris Darby asked him then, “Is that a soft threat?”

Krukziener replied, “It’s not a soft threat at all.”

On Monday, he announced that if the sale goes ahead, his group Save Queen Street Society (SQSS) will lodge a judicial review in the High Court.

Krukziener owns several properties in the central city and is the leader of SQSS. The group has taken the council to court before: in 2021 it tried unsuccessfully to stop the removal of car parks on Queen St.

The original vote to sell the Downtown car park was taken in 2020, as part of a council programme of “recycling assets”. The building is rarely more than half-full, it requires extensive and expensive renovation and the site has considerable development potential.

The 2020 vote was unanimous, although some of the councillors who supported the plan then appear to have changed their minds.

As reported earlier, Precinct’s plans for the site now involve some variations to the 2020 proposal. Back then, the intention was to remove the Hobson St flyover, build a new bus interchange and devote a floor of the new building to a $28 million “micro-mobility hub” for bikes and e-scooters.

Now, Precinct says the hub is unnecessary, while planning for buses and the flyover will become part of the council’s 10-year budget process.

Mayor Brown told the meeting yesterday he did not want to have the debate in public session: “Given the litigation threats I’d like to move straight to confidential.”

Council lawyer Meredith Webb supported this.

“Your discussion will have commercial implications and you will probably require legal advice, so I recommend you go into confidence now,” she said.

Architect's impression of the Precinct proposal for the site of the Downtown Car Park.

But Brown’s opponents continued the battle in public.

Fletcher said she believed she had been misled by council officers: “The issue is trust and what I believe is a serious breach of trust between me and the council officers.”

She gave no details and the council’s new chief executive, Phil Wilson, said he would be “happy to engage” with her about it outside the meeting.

Councillor Wayne Walker said he, too, believed he had been misled, “and I’m happy to document it”.

Wilson replied, “I absolutely want you to document it. These are allegations about the professional integrity of council staff.”

Brown said the issue of the day was merely whether to have the hub for bikes and scooters, which he personally thought was “not a good idea”. Brown probably speaks for most people on that: there has been no public support for the hub for some time.

But Walker insisted there was much more to talk about.

Scott Pritchard, chief executive of Precinct Properties. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

Webb said the question for council was whether Precinct’s new plan “materially achieves the outcomes” the council seeks. She was ready to provide detailed information about that but only in the confidential session.

Fletcher and Lee then moved to defer the discussion to a later meeting.

Brown said they were refusing to merely note the existence of a progress report.

“You’re deferring a noting,” he said. “It’s quite pointless, but that’s your speciality.”

With several people trying chaotically to talk over the top of each other, Brown adjourned the meeting “for five minutes”.

Twenty-nine minutes later, they reconvened.

Fletcher withdrew her motion to defer, but Walker objected again that things were “not being done properly”.

Brown said, “Well you’ve been party to that sort of thing many times so I’m going to ignore that.”

Walker demanded that he withdraw the remark. Brown refused.

All the while, the Precinct party was waiting to make their presentation. They included chief executive Scott Pritchard and several of his senior staff, architect Blair Johnston from Warren and Mahoney and Ngarimu Blair from Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei. David Rankin, chief executive of the council’s development agency Eke Panuku, was also there in support.

It is understood the meeting ended with a decision not to require the micro-mobility hub, but with no other changes to the existing plans. This means, for now at least, the car park will close and the Precinct proposal for a big new twin-tower development on the site will progress.

Simon Wilson is a senior writer covering politics, the climate crisis, transport, housing, urban design and social issues, with a focus on Auckland. He joined the Herald in 2018.