SHOPBUILDING REGULATION

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1069, 5 September 1930, Page 1

SHOPBUILDING REGULATION

City Council Defended

POSITION IN JERVOIS ROAD ALTHOUGH in some instances it might appear that there is an irksome restriction upon individuals, the regulation of shopbuilding in the suburban areas is absolutely essential.” Referring to a recent criticism of the Town-Planning Committee of the City Council, arising out of the banning of shopbuilding on the Transport Board's sites in Jervois Road, an Auckland agent said that in the past there had been a tendency to build too many shops in the suburban area.

Dominion Road at the present time was a very fine example, he said. Shops were scattered along it from one end to .the other and many of them were empty. He stated that when the boom was on, everybody wanted to build shops and the result' was that in almost every district there ! were shops far in excess of the public j requirements. At Jervois Road there were also sufficient shops to meet the requirements of the inhabitants of that area, many of whom had petitioned that no more shops should be erected in that area. Referring to the Jervois Road ques-j tion Professor C. R. Knight, a mem- j ber of the Town-planning Committee, said that this area, having reached a certain stage of development, was a difficult one to deal with from the point of view of town-planning. TWO ALTERNATIVES Two alternatives faced the council, either to reserve the north side of Jervois Road for residential purposes only, or allow shops on the non-con-forming principle. The latter would mean that the shops so erected would not be permitted to carry out extensions and in the end they would prob- j ably be converted to residences or! apartment houses. A largely-signed petition had been presented by residents of the Jervois Road area asking that the council should reserve the whole of the north side of the road for residential purposes. The matter was made public for some time and no opposition forthcoming the council was i surely entitled to adopt a scheme that would least upset existing businesses, said Professor Knight. To conform to the best principles of town-planning, which provided for shops on both sides of a street and opposite each other, would have upset existing arrangements very much. The whole area was too big and too far developed to insist upon complete zoning, he said. Surely it should be possible to modify any principle with a view to consolidating existing tendencies. Professor Knight said that he could not agree that the shop restriction

would tend to lower values. Flats could be built on both sides of the street and he thought this would tend to improve values. He also pointed out that there were a number of old shops in the locality and the effect of the restriction on the north side would mean that many of these would be reconditioned, which was what the committee desired to encourage. In view of the wishes of the residents that the north side should be restricted to residences only he considered that the council took the right attitude. VALUE OF ZONING “The great value of zoning is that it stabilises values,” said Mr. T. Bloodworth, chairman of the City Council Town-Planning Committee. For property owners it is the greatest protection that can be obtained.” Referring to the Jervois Road sites Mr. Blood worth stated that the' committee received a petition signed by a large number of residents asking that no more shops be allowed on the north side from Beaumont Street up. When members of the committee visited Jervois Road in connection with the Transport Board sites they found a whole row of empty shops. There would always be instances where individuals would not welcome the restriction, said Mr. Bloodwortb, but it was a question of the greatest good for the greatest number. Zoning areas not only provided for stabilised values, but they also made for ordered development and greater convenience of transport services.