The local board plan to re-develop Chamberlain Park seems to have been put on hold while a High Court judge waits until well into the New Year to hear final arguments in a judicial review.
The Save Chamberlain Park group gathered more than 6000 signatures on a petition against the Albert-Eden board moves and raised $50,000 to bring the review.
Two days were set aside last week to hear the challenge in the High Court at Auckland, but Justice Simon Moore adjourned the case until February 8 when lawyers acting for the board and Auckland Council were only part-way through their arguments at the end of the allocated hearing time.
It is unclear when the judge will give his decision but it is likely he will take some weeks, around other bench duties, to write a judgment.
The first stage of the redevelopment is the only part of the board masterplan so far to receive council funding (drawn from developers’ compensation for burying streams elsewhere), and work was due to begin in mid-February.
The overall plan is to turn Chamberlain Park into a nine-hole course with driving range and introduce sports fields, more public areas and perhaps a new aquatic centre to replace the pool in the grounds of Mt Albert Grammar that is on borrowed time.
But the first development stage is just that – a start, though it involves major stream and wetlands work. It provides for a new public open space at the western end of Chamberlain Park which is accessed via Sutherland St and Rawalpinidi Reserve via a new bridge across Waititiko/Meola Creek.
The new space will be buffered from the golf course with planting along the eastern edge of the creek and includes a range of community facilities like a playground and BBQ area.
The first stage work will have an impact on four holes on the course, reducing their length and layout.
However it seems certain the start date will be delayed until the judge gives his decision, and suggestions from the courtroom were that lawyers for both sides would negotiate a compromise in the meantime.
The council’s head of operational management, Agnes McCormack, told Mt Albert Inc last week that “development work at Chamberlain Park is currently on hold pending judicial review”.
That seemed fairly clear cut, indicating the council and board accept the redevelopment work can’t proceed until the judge delivers his judgment.
However, a statement this week from the council’s general manager of community facilities, Rod Sheridan, was less precise: “Auckland Council is assessing the impact of the adjournment on the planned redevelopment of the western end of Chamberlain Park…”
Just what that means is unclear, but Mr Sheridan was saying no more – “We do not have anything further to add on this at this stage”.
It would be a huge surprise, though, if the masterplan was progressed with physical work before the court ruling was disclosed.
Bruce Morris
