Developers Push for Higher Build Limit in Brighton
Posted on: Friday, 9 May 2008, 15:00 CDT
By GATES, Charlie
Christchurch developers are pushing for even greater relaxation of building height limits in New Brighton than proposed by city planners.
A three-day planning hearing into Christchurch City Council proposals to allow a cluster of residential and commercial buildings up to 30m tall on the New Brighton seafront ended yesterday.
Developers are pushing for the height limits to be relaxed even further to allow two storeys of residential development above the nine-metre sand dunes to create desirable sea views.
The council plan proposes the current 11m limit in the area is changed to 20m for residential buildings on Marine Parade for two blocks north and one block south of the mall. The 20m limit for commercial buildings would be raised to 30m for a small area opposite the library.
Local property owner Tracey Knox and developers Antony Gough and Mark Munro have called for the proposed 20m height limit to be increased to 25m. The extra height would also allow more flexibility for high value penthouse designs.
The council proposals would allow one floor with a sea view but the developers are pushing for two floors with sea views.
Gough said the extra height was a "subtle twist" that would attract better quality seafront developments due to the premiums returned by the penthouse views.
"Our contention is that you will not get a developer to build three storeys just for one storey with a sea view. It is not commercially viable. The height they have recommended will encourage budget building," he said.
Knox owns four properties, including one double site, stretching north on the seafront from the mall. Her family plans to sell the four plots to a developer if the plan change is approved.
"New Brighton has been so dilapidated for so long that it needs more than a helping hand. It needs direction. If you can't get the views then the redevelopment will not happen," she said.
Knox said she was not a carpetbagger and had grown up in New Brighton.
"I used to do donuts in the car out on the ramp," she said.
New Brighton Residents Association spokeswoman Jan Kenny said the demands for more height were surprising.
"Asking for even higher rise seems a strange thing for the task force to be doing," she said.
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(c) 2008 Press, The; Christchurch, New Zealand. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Press, The; Christchurch, New Zealand
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