Po¯hutukawa rehoming protest in CBD
A traffic island in Auckland’s CBD is being occupied by protesters wanting to stop 14 po¯hutukawa from being relocated.
Auckland Transport (AT) began construction of the Quay St cycleway extension last week and by Wednesday the median island was occupied by protest group Occupy Garnet Rd.
The construction, expected to take six months, will extend the existing cycle lane along Quay St and connect with the future Tamaki Drive cycleway.
The development requires rehoming 14 po¯hutukawa trees and AT was granted resource consent to move them.
In the resource consent decision independent arborist Matthew Paul said the transplant would increase the ability of the trees to reach a more typical canopy form.
AT spokesperson Mark Hannan said it was no longer possible to support the trees as well as having a bus lane, parking for buses, traffic lanes and onstreet parking.
The median island had to be narrowed to maintain use for all, he said.
So far four of the 14 trees had been removed, and two were replanted in Teal Park and were looking good, Hannan said.
Last month head of Occupy Garnet Rd Lisa Prager chained herself to a digger during a 25-day sit-in on a traffic island on Garnet Rd to protest a cycleway.
Last week Occupy Garnet Rd moved to Quay St to ensure that the remaining trees didn’t get rehomed, Prager said.
‘‘AT wants to remove these established po¯ hutukawa trees in order to provide free parking for buses in their off peak period here on Quay St,’’ Prager said.
Instead AT should talk with Ports of Auckland about finding another place to park buses, she said.
Prager would stay until it was ensured that the trees wouldn’t be moved, she said.
Tree Council chairman Sean Freeman said it had requested AT delaying the rest of the transplanting until autumn.
However transplantation could be successful regardless of the lack of rainfall if the trees were well watered throughout the process, he said.
‘‘This should not be made into a battle between cyclists and trees, because both are vitally important for a healthy city.’’