Local board votes for widespread intensification in Auckland's central suburbs

Residents of Auckland's leafy central suburbs have come out swinging against a plan that could see 15-storey apartment blocks next to the historic villas and bungalows in places like Mount Eden, Kingsland and Epsom.

Not only did the proposal come under fire for removing the special character status of nearly 5000 homes in the area, some residents said with the flood risk it would create a death trap owing to ailing water infrastructure.

But others are very much in favour of getting more residents into some of the country's most desirable suburbs.

The government has told Auckland Council it needs to build 1.4 million new homes, particularly near key public transport links and the city centre.

The council's put out two options for public consultation: option A, which would be the bare minimum to meet the government's requirements; or option B, which would see more widespread intensification.

The majority of submitters on Thursday were opposed to both options, some vehemently.

"This is a development grenade," said Georgie Pickford, of the Eden-Kingsland Society. She said it supported intensification in principal but felt the area was being thrown under the bus.

"Our streets sit on solid basaltb rock. We have no storm water pipe system and 100-year-old wastewater pipes running through our back gardens."

She was one of two dozen or so submitters, some worried about what intensification would mean for the area's special character, others about the flood risk they said it would create.

Dan Blanchon was caught in the Auckland Anniversary floods in 2023.

"I almost drowned in my front lawn," he said. "The fast-flowing water was thigh-deep, knocked me off my feet and the overland flow path would have taken me under the hedge but I managed to haul myself out."

How, then, would the area cope with high-rise apartments going up, with inadequate infrastructure and buildings covering up permeable land?

He showed the board a video of his property's gully trap during heavy rain.

"Yes that is poo," he said. "When it heavily rains all our gully traps do that and fill our properties with sewage, contaminated water."

Michael Neill, also of the Eden-Kingsland Society, was concerned about what either option would mean for Albert-Eden's special character areas.

"I believe that the cost of preserving special character areas, with their exceptional historic value, with all that they mean for Auckland's character as a city, is insignificant."

John Burns presented the board with a petition containing 227 signatures, including that of former Prime Minister Helen Clark, who penned an op-ed in Thursday's Herald saying Auckland Council must amend Plan Change 120 in order to respect heritage.

John Burns had a crack at Greater Auckland, which supported the more intensive option B.

"You'll hear later from a speaker for Greater Auckland. He will put forward the neoliberal theory that more zoning equals more housing and more affordable housing," he said.

"He will say this solution is to zone more land. He is wrong. Auckland already has more than enough zoned land to last it many years into the future."

That speaker was Conor Sharp, who made the case for supporting more intensification that would result from option B.

"In sort of talking about density done well we actually have some excellent examples in Auckland, notably Point Chevalier," he said. Long-time Albert-Eden resident Reuben Cato also made the case for further intensification.

"The question I have to pose to a lot of people who have presented today is, where are all the young people?" he said.

"We are losing people at an extraordinary rate ... and look at the median house price compared to the median household income. Now that's not just a New Zealand thing that's a global thing, but to pretend we don't have a problem that needs addressing is really concerning to me."

After a six-hour meeting, Albert-Eden Local Board chair Margi Watson added her support to option B.

"But with some additions so that other areas that are frequent transport networks connected to town centres and corridors and train stations actually take some of that growth as well."

The board voted in favour of option B by five votes to two.