Am Cup - Minister backs away from Base promise
by Richard Gladwell 13 Mar 2018 15:37 PDT
MBIE `Hybrid` Base proposal March 14, 2018 © Emirates Team New Zealand
The Ministry of Business Innovation and Enterprise have produced a further plan believed to be the sixth for the Wynyard Point area for America's Cup bases in Auckland.
The plan involves the removal of a further set of working fuel storage and hazardous substances tanks, to clear more room for additional bases on Wynyard Point.
While the plan has been given a more welcoming reception from Emirates Team New Zealand it still has some serious flaws, in terms of cost, time to develop, and Challenger team safety issues.
The new plan is a response to perceived threats of legal and action and delay by wealthy landowning companies around the Viaduct Harbour, who claim their views of existing and planned developmenst will be obstructed by the America's Cup bases.
Those views not not appear to be supported by photographic images, which show the proposed site of the Team New Zealand permanent base to be a relatively minor obstruction in the plans already lodged with Auckland Council by Panuku Developments.
The latest proposal moves Team New Zealand onto Halsey Street Wharf on a reduced extension from 75 metres to 45 metres. That too is relatively insignificant extension compared to the original proposal favoured by Panuku Developments and signed off by Emirates Team New Zealand which had all team bases located on a 225metre extension to Halsey Street Wharf, where the Volvo Ocean Race fleet is currently berthed.
Moving the Emirates Team New Zealand base onto Halsey Wharf would separate it from the existing National Maritime Museum on Hobson Wharf and would destroy the creation of an America's Cup Hub with the ETNZ base, the Museum, the Big Boat and the charter America's Cup sailing experience in the Viaduct harbour.
The area is already a tourism focal point in Downtown Auckland, and with the National Maritime Museum featuring NZL-32 and 30 years of America's Cup history. The team's America's Cup winning AC50 is also believed to be incorporated into the new base, along with local iwi Ngati Whatua with whom the team have a strong and respectful relationship.
The statement issued earlier on Wednesday reads:
Emirates Team New Zealand today confirmed that they have been presented with another plan for Americas Cup base location and design.
Team boss Grant Dalton said today "the government came to us with a further plan last week. It's a further iteration of the Ministers plan known as the Hybrid option but is closer to the one designed by Viaduct Harbour Holdings. On the face of it and to the layman's eye it looks like it could work.
In the limited time we have had to look into the detail we see that there are some problems that need to be addressed.
The latest plan reduces the extension of Halsey St Wharf from 75 metres to 45 which will please Stop Stealing Our Harbour [a small activist group founded to oppose the extension of Bledisloe Wharf in 2015].
But with the reduction of the extension of Halsey wharf, this means the majority of the challenger bases must go onto on Wynyard Wharf.
The Government has successfully negotiated with Stolthoven for the removal of their tanks earlier than was planned. The same sort of negotiation is currently taking place with Bulk Storage Terminals who own the other tanks that would need to be removed. This negotiation needs to be concluded before this plan could be considered viable. We are unsure of the timeframe for those negotiations to be concluded.
The Wynyard Wharf tank removal and remedial work are complex and time consuming. We along, with Government and Council, have concerns about the works timetable and availability of specialist construction resource in an already stretched environment. The government is seeking a second expert opinion on the timetable issue and we support them in doing this.
There is little point in agreeing to a plan that can’t be delivered on time.
David Parker agreed that we would have a permanent Base on Hobson Wharf. He has been forced by Viaduct Harbour Holdings threat to disrupt the resource consent process to back away from that commitment and move our base to the eastern end of Halsey wharf. To be honest I'm a bit pissed off with this but I will live with an equal Base at the eastern end of Halsey Wharf. It's far enough away from the activities that occur at the Events Center but still allows us to build an innovative interactive public space.We are planning a space where people can get really close to the team while at work and experience the excitement of sailing these amazing boats through simulators and other great technologies.
None of this is ideal but we will continue to work through the challenges in an effort to see the Americas Cup hosted in 2020/21 in Auckland. It's where our home is and where our heart is. Council and Government have their own challenges and we recognize that they are doing their utmost to meet them.
We have a meeting with Challengers in Europe at the end of this month and confirmation of Auckland as a venue and the class rule are eagerly awaited by them.”
The downsides of the latest plan are many:
1. It places America's Cup bases alongside a working hazardous substances and fuel storage operation. This business will continue throughout the Ametrica's Cup and build-up period.
2. It adds cost through the buy-out of contracts with existing users, being Stolthaven, ASB for the loss of a temporary carpark and now with Bulk Terminal Storage Ltd. The cost of the Stolthaven south buyout is believed to be $6million.
3. Further cost is added if remediation work is required on the vacated sites, as under a 2016 Supreme Court ruling and a similar early decision in 2004, plus an out of court settlement, the Auckland Council is responsible for the works. The 2016 Supreme Court decision noted that this required the excavation of each site to a depth of 3.5 metres, disposal of the contaminated soil from oil storage tanks and replacement with clean fill. The cost of this work for just one site was put at $50million in the Supreme Court Decision.
4. There are no publicly available costs or construction times filed for the new proposal, and indeed there would need to be further time and money spent to generate the necessary consulting reports for a new Resource Consent Application to be lodged.
5. The latest proposal has few elements which cross-over from the already lodged Application, and that would require a complete restart of the Resource Consent application process. In turn that adds several months delay to a process which is already tight on deadlines. The effect is that the bases would not be ready for occupation in the summer sailing season of 2109/20 and challenging teams would remain in the northern hemisphere cutting the economic benefit of holding the America's Cup substantially.
6. To be given effect the new plan would have to be placed in front of the Governing Body for the Auckland Council, who would then have to agree to overturn their decision of December 14 in favour of the Wynyard Basin proposal which was promoted by Mayor Phil Goff. That Decision was then implemented by Panuku Developments and lodged as a Resource Consent Application a month later. The Governing Body specifically rejected and option for additional bases on Wynyard Point despite urging from the Minister to push those though as well. The Mayor and CEO advised the meeting that the Council/Panuku Developments did not have the resources to assemble and process the two applications.
7. The construction of a base for Team New Zealand on a reduced extension of Halsey Wharf would affect the Auckland On the Water Boat Show held in the Viaduct Events Centre with spillover exhibition sites on the complete area of Halsey Wharf. The event is the major exhibition for the New Zealand marine industry
Submissions on the Panuku Developments application close today, and that will, trigger the next phase of the process. Panuku Developments intended for the Hearing phase to be skipped and for the matter to be considered by the Environment Court, with only the opportunity for Judical Review or Appeal to a higher Court as being the outstanding options.
However an Appeal process would not necessarily stall a start on the construction project. The schedule is to have a Hearing in the Environment Court by the end of July/early August, and a Decision in six months time by the end of August 2018, with construction starting in September 2018 ready for occupancy by Challengers in August 2019.
Viaduct Holdings announced their alternative plan and opposition to the option selected by the Governing Body of Auckland Council in late February having been aware for six months for the other options proposed for the America's Cup bases and their perceived effects on the views of properties owned by the various development companies.
Independent news site, Newsroom.co.nz confirms that the issues within the latest plan revolve around the specialist task of land remediation on the former storage tank sites along with negotiations on the eviction of existing commercial lease holders on the sites - which include Stolthaven, ASB Bank and BST.
At the same time, Newsroom says the major landholder in the area, Viaduct Harbour Holdings, has rejected the new plan outright as "unacceptable", sharpening tensions over the city's ability to deliver a village for bases on the waterfront.
The also report that local iwi Ngati Whatua Orakei revealed it is opposed to the Wynyard Basin plan. Spokesperson Ngarimu Blair said: "The iwi’s objection is based on the recognition of the Waitemata Harbour as a taonga.
“The mauri of the harbour has been significantly degraded from extensive reclamations and port developments, and we do not support further unwarranted intrusions like the large concrete wharf structure proposed by Panuku that will extend 75m into the Waitemata.”
“We are also concerned about the two proposed 110m concrete wharf structures on Wynyard Wharf, which we were not notified about in our meetings with Panuku.”
The 110 metre concrete wharf structures are within the line of the existing Westhaven breakwater, and are not an extension into the harbour any more than any new marinas opposite would be. The plan developed for the relocation of the fishing fleet and seaplanes was always flagged as requiring a separate facility and with the time constraints required to meet Resource Consent lodgement deadlines. The plan was not made public until published on January 30, 2018. The second application uses many of the consulting documents contained in the America's Cup bases application.
For the full story by Tim Murphy on Newsroom.co.nz click here