Mayor: plans capture character

Taupo Times, Volume 23, Issue 54, 9 July 1974, Page 1

Mayor: plans capture character

Seven young students from the Auckland School of Archltecture could leave their stamp on Taupo's future planning. The students last week presented ideas for the future development of the town — and local body officers were impressed. "I am convinced ihat local thinking will be very much influenced by the plans these students have come up with," said the Mayor, Mr C. S. Currie. "They have captured the character of Taupo, and the influences they have brought will be marvelious to work on over the next 20 years. "It was an exercise in possibilities, and tremendously feasible." The students were originally invited by the Taupo Chamber of Commerce to consider making a project of a development proposal for the cliff bank on the lake edge between the Lake Taupo Yacht Club and Titiraupenga Street. When they came to Taupo to do some research a few weeks ago, they talked to a wide variety of people and studied town planning problems. Last week they presented their preliminary plans and ideas to an informal meeting attended by town planning officers and representatives of interested organisations. The group will return in September with more comprehensiye plans. Taupo's strong asso- ^ ciation with the lake has = been reflected in the =

students' preliminary = plans. They see the E foreshore as a passive E link between the busy EE commereial area and = the water. ~ Several of the stud- ~ ents suggested a rirtg E road, probably following E Titiraupenga Street, to E take future city traffic = away from Tongariro s Street. = A popular plan was E for a town hall — E restaurant complex on E The foreshore south of z the Yacht Club, taking advantage of sweeping ^ views of the mountains E and lake. E In all the plans dis- E cuSsed, emphasis was on z the peace and tranquil- z lity of Lake Taupo, and E the lakefront area. The borough town E planning officer and E chief health and build- E ing inspector, Mr R. K. E Ponga, said some of the = ideas put forward by the E students were already E being considered. E Titiraupenga Street E was under consideration z as part of a ring road z system. ,z

Mr D. Henderson, at E a Chamber of = Commerce meeting last = year, called for a plan oi' = development for the cliff S bank between the Yacht E Club and Titiraupenga E Street. = "Not only is it untidy, = but it is dangerous and ~ subject to erosion," he E said last week. E He visualised a high- E class tourist develop- = ment extending into the = lake on piles and ~ supporting the bank. £■ Some of the students E took up the idea in their E preliminary plans — = most envisaging the site ~ as a town hall, civic = centre and restaurant ji complex. S Taupo's harbour- E master, Mr P. Petersen, E also expressed xoncern E at the erosion of the = cliff bank, which is ~ endangering attraetive = blue-gum trees. E "It may be a question E of conservation rather E than preservation," he Z said. = "It would be pretty -jexpensive to save the ^ trees so perhaps we E should think of future E replacement, with some- = thing better and safer." = Mr Petersen also told E the students there would E be strong opposition on z ecological grounds to z any sort of marina z structure in the lake £ which would encourage E weed. E The plans the stud- E ents will bring back in E September will be for = Taupo in the next 20 ~ years. The students are = working on an estimated z population of 60,000. E iiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiimimi: