America's Cup standoff puts Auckland event 'at risk'
Friday, 9 February 2018
ANALYSIS: Team New Zealand met with Auckland mayor Phil Goff and economic development minister David Parker on Friday to try and thrash out the outstanding issues for a site plan for the 36th America's Cup.
The meeting comes as the urgency intensifies for a firm decision to be made on the locations for team bases, with the prolonged negotiations putting the delivery of the event at risk.
A report approved by the council's governing body on December 14 identified hold-ups in settling on a location for the America's Cup sites as a 'high-level risk' to Auckland's ability to host the event.
'Delays in decision making would mean insufficient time to complete design, obtain resource consent, procure and construct infrastructure by mid-late 2019,' the report read.
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The report laid out a timeline for an expedited resource consent process, with applications needing to be lodged on by mid-January to allow for a full public consultation phase and Environment Court proceedings. On that basis, Auckland Council have pushed forward with lodging the resource consents for its preferred option, which would see team bases spread across Hobson, Halsey and Wynyard wharves.
It did so without Government support as Parker, who also holds the environment portfolio, wanted to see a second option, which uses tank farm land on Wynyard Point, more thoroughly tested.
At issue was the council's plan for a 75-metre extension of Halsey Wharf, with the minister determined to minimise any encroachment into the Harbour.
While the council forged ahead with its plans, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has been doing its own work investigating the feasibility of the Wynyard Point option.
That plan is understood to have gone through several revisions, with a hybrid option now on the table. This variation looks similar to the plan the council have come up, but it will have the larger team bases centralised more around Wynyard Wharf, and it reduces the extension to Halsey Wharf to 25m.
The Government is now working through with the council and Team NZ on which plan to proceed with.
All three parties will be conscious of the need to reach a resolution quickly to meet the ambitious construction timeframes. With the first syndicates expected to set up shop in Auckland in late 2019, work needs to begin on the waterfront redevelopment by the middle of this year.
The Protocol for the 36th America's Cup stipulates Auckland needs to confirm its intentions and ability to host the event before August 31, otherwise there is a risk it will be moved to Italy.
If a new plan is devised, it is not clear how the council would meet this deadline, with planning officials estimating lodging a new consent application could set the process back a further three months.
'Submitting a new resource consent application has the potential to add another two to three months to the process,' a spokesperson for Panuku said.
'If a new consent was required, all parties [Government, Auckland Council and Emirates Team New Zealand] would work together on meeting the event timeframes.'
Parker was not accepting interview requests about the America's Cup this week nor willing to provide an update on where work was at on an alternative site for the team bases. Stuff put specific questions to the minister's office, which went unanswered.