Great Turnout for this week’s Public Meeting
Spokesperson McRae
Around 200 people gathered at Harmony Hall on Wednesday night to hear four architecture and planning experts talk about Peninsula Capital’s proposal to redevelop the Devonport village through Fast Track.
You can view the transcripts and presentations from the speakers here:
Full Presentation
Lindsay Mackie
Margot McRae - Bespoke Heights
Architect Linsday Mackie summed up the mood of the evening when he said: “Creating good cities and villages takes time and we should not destroy the very qualities that make this place so specifically unique and precious by grasping at the first eight storey cab off the rank.”
Landscape architect Richard Reid said: “Takarunga will become a background feature hidden behind this development. It will block local views, including that critical arrival point at the wharf. And it will diminish the setting for the maunga and the town centre. And those are critical factors in the unitary plan for upholding the values of the place. So the project will destroy the planned intimate relationship between the maunga and the town centre, and we will never get that back.”
Heritage architect Jackie Gillies spoke about the impact on historic buildings and Dave Serjeant described the Fast Track process.
Encourage your friends to join us on the website as a supporter if they want to keep up with developments.
We have formed an Action Group to consider further moves we can take to prevent the proposal being referred to Fast Track.
The first meeting is at Harmony Hall next Wednesday 22 July at 7pm.Importantly this proposal for changing the face of Devonport would still be secret if the Devonport Flagstaff hadn’t published the leaked plans.
We are indebted as a community to the courageous journalism by Rob Drent and his team.
We urge you to donate to the Flagstaff to help keep this vital community newspaper going.