Save St Mary’s Bay

Posted on by pogostick

Save St Mary’s Bay from Council’s intensification plans

  • Lodge your submission by Sept 29
  • Contribute to the Fighting Fund
  • Talk to your neighbours
  • Join St Mary’s Bay Association

Residents Update and Submission Guidelines

On Thursday 8th September the St Mary’s Bay Association (SMBA) held a residents meeting at the Richmond Yacht Club at Westhaven, attended by over 120 people.

A big thank you to all of you who made it to the meeting and to the 30 who sent an apology.

At the meeting we outlined in detail what Auckland Council’s proposed Plan Change 78- Intensification could mean for our community, if it were to be implemented.

In a nutshell, it may become possible to build six+ storey apartment buildings across a large part of St Mary’s Bay.

  • This will inevitably alter the historic character of one of Auckland’s oldest suburbs.
  • It could potentially have a dramatic impact on your view, sunlight, shading, and privacy, and of course the value of your property.
  • Not to mention the (often multi-year) disruption & inconvenience to both you, and your whole street while these properties are being constructed.
  • And it could destroy the whole amenity value and community feel of St Mary’s Bay, key reasons why we have all chosen to buy and live here.

We presented the various aspects of the submission that SMBA will be taking to the Independent Hearing Panel, appointed to consider submissions on the plan change:

  • We will be seeking to have the plan change proposals amended to significantly reduce the number of properties affected by potential 6+ storey development, and to protect the historic character of our St Mary’s Bay community, as a whole.
  • This includes fighting back on proposed walkable catchments from the City Centre and Ponsonby Road and having a number of houses reclassified to achieve more realistic historic character status requirements.
  • These hearings will take place during 2023 with a final ruling unlikely before 2024.

If you wish to have a more detailed look at the Plan Change 78 map viewer and zoom into St Mary’s Bay and then use the layers and legend bars on the upper left.

We need your help NOW!

Lodge a submission to the Council by 29th September

We urge you to be heard and express your opinions on the importance of our heritage suburb, and what it means for our community and future generations.

  • Every person in your household is entitled to make their own submission.
  • Please don’t leave it to the rest of the community to make the effort.
  • The number of submissions received is really important.
  • You should personalise the comments in your submission to add credibility.
  • Tell your own stories and express your own feelings in your own language!

How to make your submission

For a submission to the Independent Panel, you can:

  • compose your own, or
  • use the Council online platform.

If composing your own:

Alternatively, you can use the Auckland Council’s online platform at the following link (scroll down to Plan Change 78): aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/planchanges.

Support our Fighting Fund

Our budget is $150,000 plus, to fund experts to assist with preparing and submitting our case to the Independent Hearing Panel.

  • To date SMBA has been extremely fortunate having on our association committee respected town planner Brian Putt & architect John Hill, who have each spent hundreds of pro bono hours reviewing the Council’s proposals and building our case.
  • But now we need to bring in independent experts, including: Resource management barrister / KC; Traffic engineer; Heritage architect; Resource management consultant; and an Urban Economist.
  • In the days since our meeting, we’ve started our fundraising programme, and this is ongoing. A big thank you to those who have already contributed.

BUT, we need to keep going if we are to have any success in pushing back on Plan Change 78 as currently proposed.

PLEASE, if you are able, make a donation to our fighting fund – every dollar counts!

Deposit to: SMBA Fighting Fund
Account number: 12-3019-0628993-051

(Under details: put your last name & Initials, address, & phone number as reference)

Talk to your neighbours as they may not be aware of the threat we are all under, and please ask them to support by way of contribution to the Fighting Fund and/or submission to Council. They can get the necessary information from our website.

Join St Mary’s Bay Association if you are not already a member. This gives the Association the gravitas to represent you, the local community, and helps us to communicate with you and arm you with the necessary tools to meet this challenge. Go to: Click here to sign up.

Thank you so much for your help to Save St Mary’s Bay.

We are happy to answer any questions.

David Abbott (Chairman SMBA)
Mob: 027 479 5764
dabbott@xtra.co.nz