Lower Hutt looking at bold plan to reshape its struggling CBD
Friday, 24 May 2019
Lower Hutt's struggling business district might need to be partly demolished in order to be saved.
Australian urban design expert Mike Cullen has suggested centralising retail into a small block and rebuilding the city around hospitality, apartments and parks as a solution to revitalising the area. That could potentially involve the council buying empty buildings for demolition.
The city's 56 hectare central business area has been in decline since the Queensgate Mall opened in 1986 and now streets around the mall are riddled with empty shops.
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In 2009, the Hutt City Council came up with a bold plan to turn the city towards the Hutt River, featuring a river promenade, riverside apartments and a pedestrian bridge.
Problems with getting the New Zealand Transport Agency to agree to the long talked about Melling Interchange have thrown parts of that plan, RiverLInk, into doubt.
Lower Hutt Mayor Ray Wallace thinks a radical overhaul of Hutt City centre is needed for the city to thrive.
And, after 10 years, the council is taking a fresh look with the City Transformation Plan (CTP).
It was not a blueprint for the future but a strategic look at how the city might develop, Wallace said. It was very much a long-term document.
The work done by Cullen, who was contracted by the council to look at the city's urban growth, sticks to the basic premise of turning the city 90 degrees, so it can make better use of the Hutt River.
Condensing the retail strip into a much smaller area would allow old earthquake-prone buildings to be demolished to make way for parks, apartments and cafes.
Cullen suggested extending the area needing development across the Hutt River to include parts of Melling and Alicetown.
That would involve a second pedestrian bridge across the river and opening up significant parts of Alicetown for development.
Other possibilities included:
* A park-like extension of the civic precinct - framing an enlarged Dowse Square with apartment buildings, hooking in to a laneway system to the river.
* Developing niche retail and hospitality in an extended laneway system connecting to the river.
* A chain of pocket parks the length of the central city.
Wallace downplayed the prospect of the council buying and demolishing properties, and said he would prefer to see the council working with developers to facilitate building apartments and cafes.
The council had already spent $9 million on strategic purchases in the inner city and he conceded that may again be necessary in the future.
Centralising retail into a smaller area was a bold plan but with the area having lost 1700 jobs over 10 years, the status quo was not an option, he said.
'It (the decline in retail) is something we are seeing not only nationally but internationally.'
As to how much it would cost and who should pay, Wallace said he hoped developers would pay for much of the work required.
Given it was a long-term project benefiting future generations, the council would also use debt.
Ultimately, the cost would depend on what options the public and councillors favoured but he was confident the city could afford it.
The CTP goes live on Monday and Wallace is looking forward to hearing from residents.
It had the potential to be the biggest revamp since Lower Hutt was built in the 1950s by Mayor Percy Dowse.
'This is very much about taking the community with us. This is about our city going forward and having a city we can all be proud.'