PERMIT WITHHELD

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 921, 14 March 1930, Page 10

PERMIT WITHHELD

MANSIONS APARTMENTS AGAIN REQUIREMENTS NOT MET Amended plans of Marlborough Mansions, the block of apartments proposed for erection in Vincent Street, still do not meet with the requirements of the Municipal Corporations Act. Deciding this, the City Council last evening upheld a report from the Town Planning Committee recommending the sending of advice to the applicants proposing to erect the block that, under the circumstances, the council was not able to issue a permit. Regarding amended plans submitted to him at the end of last November by the architect, Mr. Surrey S. Alleman, to obtain a temporary permit. the City Engineer. Mr. J. *Tyl© r reported to the committee that' the proposal was to erect a building of five storeys and a basement, containing 49 apartments, with a large dining hall and a kitchen in the basement. The building was to be 56ft. high and would cover 65 per cent, of the site. It covered 15 per cent, more of the site than that provided in conditions recently fixed by the council. The yard space was only 20ft. deep; under the Municipal Corporations Act. 30ft, was the depth required for a building of that height. The apartments provide! for one room with a bathroom and conveniences, but no kitchenette, and covered a floor space from 266 to 2SS square feet. The architect had state! the building did not come within the scope of the conditions drawn up m connection with the erection of multifamily dwellings, but looked upon it merely as an apartment house. MR. MAWSON’S ADVICE In a later communication. Mr. Alleman said he had sought the advice of the Director of Town Planning, Mr. J. Mawson. He had been assured that, in the event of the aJternative designs being submitted by the City Council to the Town Planning Board, Mr. Mawson would be prepared to recommend its approval provided it did not exceed in height the width of Vincent Street, secured an angle of light of 35 degrees, with the vertical to all inhabitable rooms, and provided suit - able access from the street to the lighting areas at the side or in the rear of the building. Mr. Mawson, in a letter to the council, was at a loss to understand on what grounds the Marlborough Mansions concern was of opinion that tho amended plans had been drawn to comply with the requirements of the Town Planning Board. No amended plans had been submitted to the board and no specific requirements regarding height, light and air space had been formulated. He did not Have the opportunity to examine the amended plans closely, but, on the face of it, it did not seem that the new plans were a considerable improvement on those considered by the board during the hearing of the appeal. To have considered the plans officially as Director of Town Planning, or to have indicated that the amended plans would comply with the needs of the board, would have placed him in a false position. He said there was nothing to prevent the council passing a by-law exempting multiple-family dwellings in terms of sub-section 11 of section 299, or any other class of building, from the provisions of section 299. He thought the council would be well advised to do this, for the section as it stood was arbitrary and unintelligent and did not necessarily secure the objects for which it was presumably designed. He had seen numerous plans which fully complied with the provisions of the section, but with the statutory open space so situated that it was of no value for the purpose of securing light and air space to the habitable room. A complaint regarding the delay in granting the permit came from Mr. .T. Osborne-Lilly, the solicitor for Marlborough Mansions, Limited. The recommendation was adopted by the council.