Housing estate suggested for part of Petone

Houses could one day sit on the site of the Petone Mitre 10.

Hutt City Council planners are looking at the future of a block of land that includes Petone Mitre 10, Fairfax’s printing press and Imperial Tobacco, tentatively called the North Park Village

City fathers have grappled with how to boost its population since the 1980s when major employers such as Ford and Gear Meat closed.

Their Urban Growth Strategy aims to grow the population by 8000 by 2032, requiring a significant boost in the housing stock.

A large tract of rural land in Wainuiomata was touted as a solution until opposition from land owners dampened the council’s enthusiasm. Now changes to the District Plan to encourage infill housing and apartments, in selected areas of the city, are currently being looked at.

Council general manager Kim Kelly said the city needed to think outside the square and a spatial plan recently adopted by council did that. It identified North Park Village as an area suitable for brown field development.

Kelly emphasised the plan was long term but believed the Village option was worth looking at.

It required changes to the District Plan and there was also the question of the current owners of the commercial sites.

The proposed Urban Development Authorities could also give the council powers to purchase the land.

Fairfax acting managing director Andrew Boyle said Fairfax owned the land the Petone press sat on.

He understood it was just a proposal and Fairfax expected to be part of any consultation that took place. ‘‘From what we know, it seems unlikely that this will be happening in the near future.’’

Council urban design planner Paki Maaka predicted the proposed Petone/Grenada road would change retailing throughout the region.

It would create a gateway to Petone which, with direct links to Wellington City, Johnsonville and Upper Hutt, could become the retail centre of the region. Maaka believed it would be highly attractive to big box retailers, including Mitre 10.

Brown field development is not the only radical long-term development touted for Petone.

Moving Ava Station to an area near North Park (the home of the Petone Rugby Club) and creating a walking/cycling corridor link- ing it to Petone, was also under investigation.

It is only a 15-minute walk from North Park to Jackson St and Maaka believed a new station would be a major boost to Jackson St retailing.

One person who has doubts about the long term plans for Petone, is Cr Tui Lewis.

Although she was not against development, the scale and timing of some the projects planned worried her.

The congestion caused by the recent opening of Kmart served as a reminder of the need for good planning, she said.

The council recently agreed to spend $300,000 to look at sporting hub based on North Park. She argued more work was necessary to look at the impact it would have, in an area where congestion was already a problem.

Lewis is part of Petone 2040, a planning group working on the spatial plan for Petone. It was recently adopted by council and she wanted more work done on that before any decisions were made on projects such as the sporting hub.

With the regional council, city council and New Zealand Land Transport set to spend hundreds of millions on flood protection and urban design in central Lower Hutt, it was important that the planners got Petone right, she said.

Kelly said that was exactly what the spatial plan aimed to do.