High-endhomes for Mt Crawford

Those developing Shelly Bay are in pole position to develop swathes of Crown land on the hill above – but hopes for affordable housing there seem likely to be limited.

A Land Information NZ (Linz) report to Cabinet shows that the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust (PNBST) intends to take up its rights of first refusal at Wellington’s former Mt Crawford jail and Watts Peninsula land nearby.

But it also shows that the majority of the peninsula, jutting from Miramar into Wellington harbour, is set to become a reserve free from development. Cabinet papers note that neither developed site is likely to contain much – if any – affordable housing.

Trust chairman Wayne Mulligan said, if the trust did get the land, nothing had been ruled out by way of affordable housing.

He was waiting to hear from Linz to see if it had got to the stage of working through the Public Works Act to where it could offer the iwi the chance to buy Mt Crawford land and parcels of Watts Peninsula. Asked if the trust had the money to buy them, he said: ‘‘We do everything in partnerships – it spreads opportunities and the risks.’’

No concrete partnership angements had been made.

Linz’s paper outlined options for the 76-hectare Watts Peninsula site, including its most preferred option. An earlier report noted that PNBST also intended to exercise its right of first refusal at Mt Crawford to develop the site.

Watts Peninsula options range from making the entire 76 hectares a reserve, through to selling off five sections – totalling 14.7 hectares – to create 150 lots.

These areas were at Kau Point, northeast of the prison; the ‘‘film the arr- set site’’, north of the prison; a section above the Shelly Bay development; as well as sections east and west of the prison.

The preferred option would create just 41 lots in two sections east and west of the prison. ‘‘There is potential for these sites to be disposed of and developed in conjunction with Mt Crawford.’’

Linz Crown property group manager John Hook said a final decision on the reserve land was dependent on funding.

Linz was working through the process of disposing of Mt Crawford, including looking at whether the land needs to be offered to former owners.

A separate Linz report, released in February, investigated five options for Watts Peninsula and Mt Crawford, ranging from one large reserve, through to selling the lot off, with others being a mixture of the two. The ‘‘preferred option’’ reserved the ‘‘core’’ of the peninsula as reserve while selling or developing other parts of the land and all of the prison site.

If that happened, the Linz paper said: ‘‘[Wellington City] Council has indicated it would be unlikely to want [to] invest in new infrastructure at Mt Crawford, so the costs would fall to the developer.’’

The trust is currently working with the Wellington Company towards developing Shelly Bay, below Mt Crawford. One bone of contention there is how much ratepayers will have to pay for necessary infrastructure upgrades. The council is deciding whether to sell parcels of its land to developers of the $500 million project.

The Weta group of Miramar film companies was among the opposition. It had its own vision for the area which was a ‘‘significant opportunity to take a much broader, holistic and consultative approach to development across the Miramar Peninsula‘‘.