I recently attended the first "Eden Park Advisory Group" meeting last week. The purpose of this group is to provide a forum for the communication between Auckland City officers, the Eden Albert Community Board, the Eden Park Trust Board and key stakeholders adjacent to Eden Park over ongoing development of Eden Park and it's integration with the surrounding area.
I did make some notes during the meeting - please bear in mind these are my notes, not the official minutes (which I'll distribute as soon as I have them)
It was confirmed that Eden Park is to be a stadium into the future, therefore these meeting were to be a forum for discussion to discuss the precinct plan for the area, the scope was indicated at about a 2km radius from the stadium, from Eden Park to the motorway (towards Bond Street) and Balmoral Road in the other direction.
The precinct plan would look at zoning land use (business/residential/heritage etc), pedestrian links, road improvements, concerns regarding the look/feel, as there is a district plan review due before the world cup. It was mentioned that this is not a growth strategy for the area.
Vector, despite previous notifications to the contrary, does have under grounding plan for 2009 for the area, which maybe bought forward to coincide with the council plans for redevelopments of roads/footpaths. The streets shown in a proposed plan covered only those streets bordering Eden Park.
I did ask, that whilst the council were looking at roading and improving the roads to get people to/from the stadium quickly, would they also be looking at traffic calming methods on streets close to the stadium (where buses etc. do not travel down) as I have been notified of some concerns. The Eden Albert Ward Councillor (Glenda Fryer) then proclaimed that in nine years of her being in council, nobody has ever requested this before for the roads I provided as an example, so NO. This is contrary to many comments I have received from neighbours who say that have tackled council in the past and had such requested denied, following the council evaluating their case.
The resident’s only parking area is to be revised, I did ask if the neighbours could submit roads that they felt would or would not like to be included as this directly impacts them, but the council were adamant they did not want such feedback and would more than likely make it a 1km zone.
The council stated they would NOT be progressing the over bridge over or tunnel under Sandringham Road, but would be pushing to upgrade morningside station.
The council and eden park trust board agreed that better communication regarding traffic management around games would be looked into, so that people knew when games were on, phone numbers for security, traffic etc. Whilst I raised concerns (that I have received from neighbours) regarding the councils unwillingness to tow cars blocking driveways, Glenda Fryer assured the meeting, this was not a problem.
As time goes on, i'm sure these meetings will get more involved etc. so if you would like to get involved, drop me a line. With council elections due this year, we will be able to determine if the councillors truly are listening to the neighbours and if not...
Regards
Jose Luis Fowler
09 6232963 - 021 369537
Eden Park Resident Association Inc.
jose.fowler@edenparkresidents.org.nz |
