Ian McLean Spokesperson for the Green Party

There is a lot of angst about the Tauranga CBD at the moment, and rightfully so. Sadly, a cheap waterfront upgrade, a poorly designed playground and a new police station are unlikely to be enough to make the CBD an exciting and fun destination.

CBD disease is not unique to Tauranga. It is being experienced by urban centres of all sizes throughout the country.

Hamilton has had enormous growth in its northern suburbs, and it has The Base. Tauranga similarly has Papamoa, with its own service centre, and Bayfair. Rotorua chose a large-scale retail development adjacent to its CBD. But all three towns have sick CBDs. Clearly, economic growth has not benefitted any of them.

Analysts point to several key causes of CBD decline: online purchasing, the global financial crisis, high mortgage costs (reducing discretionary spending), and downtown parking costs. No doubt all of these have their part to play.

But there is more. Allow an enormous blob of retail opportunity, no doubt championed as great for the local economy, and you will necessarily suck retail spending away from the CBD.

Any decent planner could have predicted a declining CBD when Bayfair and Fraser Cove were on the books, and likely did so. While TCC is attempting to re-position the CBD, to ensure its continuing viability, the options are limited – and the initiatives are not currently working. And, Bayfair wants to grow even larger!

Despite the spread of CBD disease, a few smaller centres are booming, and we might look to them for lessons to be learned. The 'boutique” villages of Matakana (north of Auckland), Havelock North (Hawkes Bay) and Greytown (Wairarapa) are all currently exciting and dynamic destinations.

Not long ago, all of these were 'Nowheresvilles”.

Is it possible to convert an established and larger CBD into a boutique destination? Is conversion to a boutique destination the answer? Realistically, Mt Maunganui has the boutique destination option cornered; and it is doubtful that Tauranga should compete for that status.

People are unlikely to be dragged back to the CBD from Bayfair or Fraser Cove, and the ribbon of retail along Cameron Rd or Chapel St would not likely capture many, even if they began the journey. Our major growth areas (Papamoa and The Lakes) are both locally-serviced, and for sensible reasons.

Without some magic, fringe growth areas will not save the Tauranga CBD because most people stay close to home most of the time.

Yet the solution lies in more people.

Therefore, either those people must live in or close to the CBD, or they must work in the CBD – or they must want to come to the CBD because it is special. Unfortunately, if the submissions to the SmartGrowth review are anything to go by, most development proposals are on a grand scale – on the fringes of the city. The evidence is that proposed development will not help the CBD.

The city could be repositioned as a social, cultural and business centre, with mostly higher quality boutique retail. Aside from whether it is possible to attract back businesses that have abandoned the CBD for lower rents elsewhere, it is doubtful that there is enough high-income business in Tauranga to support a significant line-up of boutique retail.

The compact city concept is a better way to go, even if the horse has mostly bolted. TCC has promoted higher density housing close to the CBD in its District Plan. The difficulty is to make that housing affordable and attractive, while ensuring enough profitability to make it viable for developers. Currently, it is not happening.

Standard in-fill, as we have experienced, is a worst case scenario and needs to be resisted by TCC. Full site redevelopment is needed, even if that raises affordability issues.

Converting some of the CBD itself to residential is probably the best option. That will bring in people, reduce the number of competing retail outlets, and use infrastructure that is already in place.

The proposed university and hotel will help. But realistically, if more people are to live close to the CBD, in order to keep it viable, the council will likely need to directly support higher density (and affordable) housing initiatives by using planning tools, cost subsidies or direct investment.

The first of these is most likely in the current economic environment. CBD disease needs radical treatment, lateral thinking, and a willingness to take risks. If we are genuinely concerned in saving the CBD, then we all need to become involved.

Ian McLean is a spokesperson for the Greens. He can be called on 021 547556 or 07 5794670 or emailed at: ian.mclean@greens.org.nz