CITY CONGESTION

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 136, 5 December 1929, Page 10

CITY CONGESTION

WIDENING NO CURE

HEIGHT LIMITATION

TOWN AND COUNTRY

By the Director of Town Planning.

In a previous article the Director of Town Planning, Mr. J. W. Mawson, dealt with general aspects of the problem of modern city congestion, suggesting that the policy w n-reet u'idening as adopted in Wellington could not of itself provide better than a temporary ' remedy. In the present article he continues the argument that congestion can be overcome only by legislating towards securin" a proper balance between building and street capacity. The real iniportanee of town planning to country areas, ia made clear by Mr. Mawson. His article continues:— For many reasons I think that we should be well advised in this country to restrict the height of buildings to the width of the street on which they front, and this alone would tend to stabilise the position in regard to tho relationship between building cubage or floor space and street capacity, but I think we should go further than that and definitely limit the floor spaco of buildings according to their use in relation to tho superficial area of the street on which they front. At tho least we should make sure that there is room in the streets for people to move freely in case of a sudden catastrophe such as an earthquake. In speaking of floor area in this connection we must confine ourselves to uti.lisable space. In every building there is a considerable amount of dead space given up to corridors, elevators, staircases, etc. I have not had either the timo or the opportunity to go sufficiently deeply into the question to be able to make a definite recommendation in regard to tho ratio between floor area and street area which can safely be permitted in order to stabilise the traffic conditions at the point of maximum efficiency, but this is a matter which ought to be inquired into without delay. Now let me try to answer quite briefly those questions which I set out in the previous article. BALANCE BETWEEN STREET AND BUILDINGS. The programme of street improvements undertaken by the City of Wellington is necessary because the traffic congestion in certain streets is already serious and involving the whole community in serious inconvenience and loss. Of that there can be no doubt. Assuming that tho volume of traffic remains static, these improvements, with tho exception of the proposed uew width of Manners street, will, in my opinion, go far to relievo tho present congestion, but unfortunately tho volume of traffic is not likely to remain static. The very method adopted by the City Council for the acquisition of property for street widening purposes presupposes that new buildings will be erected before the improvements are carried out and the natural tendency is for property owners to take full advantage of the bylaws. It will probably be found, therefore, that long before any individual street improvement is completed the building cubage will have been doubled or trebled, and the volume of traffic correspondingly increased. As I have already said, no street improvement can be regarded as permanent unless at the same time a definite balance is struck between the cubage or floor space of the buildings and the traffic capacity of the' street and the building density regulated accordingly. Finally, that all important question of who is to foot the bill for these improvements. Under the present statutory powers enjoyed by the City of Wellington in regard to compensation and betterment, practically the whole of the burden will fall on the ratepayers at large, notwithstanding that those improvements will probably add greatly to the capital value of the properties immediately affected, without any corresponding advantage to tho community as a whole. This is especially true of streets of less than 6Gft in width before the improvements are carried out, for under the city bylaws buildings can only be erected to the maximum height on streets of 66ft and over. Even if the present maximum height limit is allowed to remain, a provision that no building may exceed in height the width of the street on which it fronts, would tend to rectify this anomaly and would certainly bring about a better balance between compensation and betterment without necessarily imposing any economic injury on the property owners affected. The essence of the whole matter, however, is that whoever pays for these improvements they shall be permanent, otherwise the money might just as well be tipped into the destructor. That is the position which has to be faced, not only in Wellington, but in every other large urban centre in the Dominion, and the sooner it is faced, the more money we shall save and the sounder will be our economic position. Now I ventured to suggest earlier that the man who pays the rates is not the urban property owner. Certainly he pays them in the first instance, but surely-it is the farmer of this country who ultimately foots the bill. Let us take the broad view. TOWN PLANNING AND THE FARMER. Unless and until we can build up an export trade for our secondary industries or tap some other source of wealth, such as tourist traffic, every urban activity in the country must be regarded as a function of, and as an integral part of our primary industry, llenee the necessity of regional planning, which recognises the economic interdependence of urban and rural activities. Rightly understood, this country represents a single industrial enterprise, departmentalised like any other efficiently organised industry. To this extent our various urban activities can be regarded as departments andthe economy and efficiency of administration of these departments is a matter of vital concern to the industry as a whole. If wo could control the selling price of our wool, meat, and dairy produce, we could make the other fellow pay for our mistakes. But what is tho position? Wo not only have to sell our agricultural produce in the world's markets in competition with other countries, but in competition with synthetic substitutes. Our Very existence depends upon the price we can obtain for this produce. Cost of production is the vital factor. If our selling price over falls below the cost of production, we might as well put up the shutters. If we were a self-contained economic unit like the U.S.A. with no foreign debt, and independent of imports, we might be able to weather the worst storm, but what of our immense foreign financial obligations? If the worst came to the worst wo could indeed continue to feed, clothe, and shelter ourselves, but who in their senses would dare to contemplate such a possibility.

Perhaps I can make my meaning

clearer by recounting a. typical conversation. I have had with many farmers during the course of my travels through the Dominion.

Farmer: "What has town and regional planning to do with farming, and why should the farmer be asked to contribute towards the cost of preparing and carrying out these schemes?"

Town Planner: "Does it matter to you how much it costs to market your wool and butter; the fees you pay your broker, solicitor, and doctor; the wages you pay your farm hands; the price you pay for your farming implements, your fencing and building materials, your clothes, tobacco, and other necessaries and luxuries of life?"

Farmer: "Of course it does, but what has town planning got to do with that?"

Town Planner: "You do not suppose that the warehousemen, manufacturers, storekeepers, transport companies, and your professional advisers are philanthropists do you?"

Farmer: "Not on your life. Like me, they are out to get the biggest margin of profit they can for the goods or services they have to sell."

Town Planner: ."Of course—and where do you suppose they get the money to pay their rates? Surely you know that every business man regards his rates as a part of the cost of production, and adds them to the selling price of his goods or services, and then adds a percentage for profits. If he did not do so he would soon find himself in the Bankruptcy Court. And what do these rates represent? Examine the municipal budget of any large town in New Zealand and see how the money is expended. You will find that a very substantial percentage of it represents interest and sinking fund charges on loans raised for the construction of various public works and utilities such as streets, sewers, and water supply. If these works are efficiently planned and constructed and endure for the full life of the loan, then the community is getting 100 per cent, value for its money, but in how many cases will you find this is true? Very few I think.

"Supposing, too, that a manufacturer or shopkeeper finds that it costs him Is per ton per mile for the collection or delivery of his goods, instead of Cd because the streets are so congested with traftie that each journey takes double the time that it ought to do who pays that extra 6d? Surely not the manufacturer or shopkeeper? No, my friend, it is you, the farmer, the ultimate consumer of everything which is manufactured, imported, or sold in this country, who pays the rates and the extra cost of doing business due to the inefficient planning and organisation of our urban activities.

"It cuts both ways, of course, for your income is determined by the price you can get for your products in the world's markets, and tho higher the cost of production, the more restricted your spending power, and this naturally reacts upon our urban activities, and thus a vicious circle is created which has much to do with our present problem of unemployment. "If you understand this matter rightly you will see that every phase of public and private economy in connection with our urban activities is a matter of vital concern to you, and in as much as town planning is very intimately concerned with such questions it is as much if not more in your interests that these schemes should be prepared than it is in the interests of the urban population."

Farmer: "I admit that I had not thought of it in that light. It looks to me like a good investment, not only from the point of view of the farmer but of the country as a whole." '