America's Cup: So what's the Base Plan?

by Todd Niall, Radio NZ 20 Feb 2018 04:31 GMT 20 February 2018

There's one plan nearing the end of public submissions for resource consent, one suddenly unveiled by Auckland Mayor Phil Goff and the government's lead minister David Parker, and there's Team New Zealand's "$50 million cheaper" plan.

The mayor and the minister won't talk to RNZ after a brief media flurry last week when they backed a new plan long-pursued by Mr Parker, leaving key questions unanswered.

One is why they went public, part-way through a negotiation with Team New Zealand, which the previous day had presented officials with a new variation.

"We chose to make that announcement because the Mayor of Auckland was obliged to tell his council of the revised plans, and it seemed appropriate that we answer questions from the media because there's a public interest in the outcome," Mr Parker told Parliament.

Auckland Councillors told RNZ they understood they were being briefed only because the minister had scheduled a public announcement two hours later.

Mr Parker has been keen on a Cup village different to the one agreed between Auckland Council and the cup defender Team New Zealand in December.

He believed more of the bases could be built on industrial Wynyard Point, lessening the scale of wharf extensions, if one bulk fuel storage operator Stolthaven, could be persuaded to move.

All of those goals seemed possible in the mayor and minister's announcement, after agreement was reached with Stolthaven.

The bonus was that the minister's option was now declared cheaper - even though it and the council's previously $142m plan, had blown out to $185m and $200m respectively.

Mr Parker's is deemed cheaper despite the need to commercially persuade the departure of both Stolthaven and ASB which leases an adjacent carpark, and the risk of decontamination costs beyond those required to be met by Stolthaven.

ASB has told RNZ that no talks had begun on quitting the carpark.

The minister's office, in a statement to RNZ, said on the question of base formats "our advice is that it meets Team NZ's requirements".

The planning and construction timeframe for the village is critical, a point made often by Mr Goff.

The biggest teams including Team NZ are expected to want to set up by the end of next year, a target which the already-agreed plan is said to meet.

Mr Parker said his proposal, which includes extensions to both Hobson and Halsey Street Wharves, as well as major work on Wynyard, has "the same or similar" planning and construction timings.

RNZ understands however that one estimate for Mr Parker's option, pushes out completion by more than two months, putting at risk the ability for teams to occupy completed bases by the summer of 2019/20.

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Sources familiar with America's Cup technology have told RNZ that the design of five bases intended to be on Wynyard Point are unworkable, and the inclusion of a public road across the base yards unacceptable to teams.