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looking for. 1. Public housing units at Kai Tak questioned
2. Consultation for Kai Tak must be reviewed 3. Making the most of Tamar
4. Kai Tak Planning Review's Stage 3 Public Participation Programme starts off
5. Town Planning Board Guidelines revised
6. Draft Tsuen Wan West Outline Zoning Plan amended
7. Land resumption for drainage improvement works in Sheung Shui
1. Public housing units at Kai Tak questioned
MAY CHAN, POLLY HUI and YVONNE LIU , SCMP 23 June 2006
Preliminary plans for development of the former airport site at Kai Tak will go before the Town Planning Board today, amid reservations about allocating plots of the valuable land for public housing.
The draft plan, aimed at transforming Kai Tak and its vicinity into a hub for tourism, sport and business, features a cruise terminal, sports complex and prime residential, commercial and business developments.
It also includes 11,000 public housing flats, which account for more than a third of the 29,000 residential units planned for the site.
Board member Raymond Chan Yuk-ming said the high-end part of the development had originally been planned for reclaimed land but since the reclamation plans had been dropped, it had been pushed back to the heart of Kai Tak, near the public housing.
"This arrangement could have a negative impact on the overall development of the Kai Tak district, not to mention the implied loss of income from auctioning the land for commercial use," he said.
Henderson Land general manager Tony Tse Wai-chuen said he had reservations about public flats forming 30 per cent of the total residential units - or about putting public flats on the site at all.
"It will provide a sufficient supply of flats if the Urban Renewal Authority carries out redevelopment schemes in the old districts nearby, including To Kwa Wan and Kowloon City ," he said.
He also said it was important to improve the living environment of the run-down neighbourhood as soon as possible.
However, legislator Fred Li Wah-ming, a Housing Authority member, said the balance between public and private housing was a healthy one. "If these 11,000 public housing units are pulled out, there will be a lot of pressure on the supply of public housing."
Developers meanwhile praised the low-density design of the draft.
Sun Hung Kai Properties vice-chairman Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong said: "It has cut down the population estimation and flats in this area, which will reduce the building density and have more spaces. The scheme also provides enough facilities to the public."
The initial draft of the Kai Tak project will be open to a two-month public consultation after today's meeting.
2. Consultation for Kai Tak must be reviewed
SCMP 23 June 2006 As the planning row over the Tamar site comes to an end, is another one over the future of the former Kai Tak airport site beckoning? That is the question in many people's minds after the government unveiled its development blueprint for the Kowloon site yesterday. Whether by design or coincidence, it is interesting to note that the Kai Tak plan was released just ahead of a crucial vote in the Legislative Council on building a new government headquarters at Tamar. The community remains divided over the Tamar project, with many questioning the wisdom of putting a government compound on a prime waterfront site in the heart of the central business district. After a tortuous process of winning support from most legislators, the government is set to get the $5.1 billion it needs for the project. While there may still be fights over its design, nothing is likely to put a stop to the construction now. Tamar is but a fraction of the 328-hectare Kai Tak site. But one does not have to be an alarmist or a subscriber to conspiracy theories to worry about a similar row bogging down the latter's development. Planning for the site began back in the early 1990s, well before the airport was relocated in 1998. Over the years, various concept plans and blueprints were published, the first in 1993 and then in 1998 and 2001. The latest planning cycle that culminated in the blueprint published yesterday began in 2004, after a court ruling on harbour reclamation prompted a review of previous plans. In the past two years, the Planning Department has published reports and conducted two rounds of public consultation. The process of planning and consultation over the Kai Tak site is worth recapping, as it has largely followed established practice that also applied to the Central-Wan Chai reclamation, of which Tamar forms a part. And that is the problem. Some will recall the publication of concept plans for further reclamation of the harbour in the 1980s, with colourful artist's impressions of how the new development would look. Public opinion was sought and the plans revised. But it was not until the first phase of the reclamation was well under way in the late 1990s that the community woke up to the horrors of what they had supposedly approved. They found that a big chunk of their beloved Victoria Harbour had been lost forever - a loss whose significance they did not quite appreciate when they had looked at the earlier designs. A public outcry followed, but officials said it was already too late. It took judicial challenges by activists to force the administration to scale back its plans. If anything is to be learned from the saga, it is that something is wrong with the government's traditional way of consulting the public. The salient points and their implications may not have been properly highlighted, or they failed to get the attention they deserved from interested parties at the time. The opposition which later arose has frustrated officials, who feel their "well-considered" plans have unreasonably been rejected by ill-informed busybodies. On the other hand, critics are aghast that officials should close their minds to alternative views from citizens trying to help make this city a better place. There is a better way to secure the best plans for the future of the Kai Tak site, while also maintaining social harmony. It is imperative that the government reviews its consultation model for Kai Tak to enhance its ability to encompass public opinion. Hopefully, a study on civic engagement in public policy making commissioned by the Bauhinia Foundation Research Centre - a think-tank close to Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen - will help shed light on the way forward.
Along with the West Kowloon reclamation, the Kai Tak site is the most valuable piece of land in Hong Kong . We owe it to ourselves and future generations to turn it into the best that Hong Kong can offer. Though government planners have redrawn their blueprints for the site a number of times, they should be prepared to revise them if better alternatives emerge.
3. Making the most of Tamar
BERNARD CHAN , SCMP 23 June 2006
Funding for the government's new headquarters project at Tamar will likely be approved today by the Legislative Council's Finance Committee. However, if you have read the letters page and opinion columns in the South China Morning Post over the past few months, you would get the impression that opposition is fierce and widespread. What is happening here?
Those opposing Tamar are mainly middle class, well-educated and often overseas-educated. Most probably have above-average incomes. Many are expatriates. In short, they are Post readers, or similar types of people. I am probably over-generalising a bit, but not too much, I believe.
The rest of the population is less vocal. There seems to be a certain reluctance in the community to let developers have the Tamar site. But, to many members of the public, leaving the area vacant - or using it as a park - would seem wasteful.
While the anti-Tamar activists reject the government's reasons for the project, mainstream opinion seems more accepting. Nobody can deny that the Central Government Offices complex is old. The Legislative Council certainly needs new premises, and Tamar has been vacant for more than eight years. Public works projects create jobs. Unlike the activists, most people accept that these facts add up to a reasonable case for a new government complex at Tamar.
The activists would probably be smart to accept, as some already have, that Tamar will go ahead. They could then focus their efforts on pressuring officials to find wise and imaginative uses for the two hectares of open space planned for the development. There is real potential there - and in the planned waterfront promenade - to have a new kind of public area rather than another of our traditional concrete spaces.
I would also advise the activists to look to the future. Tamar is just a piece of land, although the issue has generated a lot of public debate and publicity. There will be more situations like this in the years to come.
People who want the government to change its traditional approach to land use should think about identifying opportunities before officials start drawing up plans.
I think the middle class is probably ahead of the curve when it comes to issues like urban planning. Their expectations have run ahead of the relatively slow policy-making process: we saw this in the disputes over the West Kowloon arts hub and the Wan Chai mega hotel project.
To people who have lived overseas and who have children - like me - it is obvious that we need more parks and open spaces in our urban areas.
It is also clear that the government wants to attract more skilled, educated people to live in Hong Kong - middle-class people, not unlike the readers of this newspaper and probably even the anti-Tamar activists. So it's not in the government's interest to be in constant conflict with these people.
I believe our officials are not opposed to a greener and cleaner environment. They know there's a case for rethinking our traditional land-use priorities.
Ideally, today's Finance Committee vote will clarify the situation and encourage everyone, on both sides, to tone down the volume of their arguments and try to agree on some common principles.
Let's make sure the development at Tamar is amazing - something the whole world will recognise, not just a block of concrete. Let's maximise the surrounding open area and turn it into a new sort of public space, something green and unique for all to enjoy.
Most important, let's see how we can avoid this sort of conflict in future. A better quality of life is going to be essential to our competitiveness in the years ahead. That means rethinking old approaches in various policy areas. And it also means the middle class and the government have to work closer together rather than against each other.
Bernard Chan is an executive councillor and a legislator representing the insurance functional constituency.
4.Kai Tak Planning Review's Stage 3 Public Participation Programme starts off
Hong Kong Government, 23 June 2006
he Planning Department today (June 23) launches a two-month Stage 3 Public Participation Programme under the Kai Tak Planning Review to seek the community's views on the draft Preliminary Outline Development Plan (PODP) for the Kai Tak development.
Speaking at a press conference, the Director of Planning, Mr Bosco Fung, said that the comments and proposals received in the previous rounds of public participation programme had been taken into account in preparing the draft PODP.
"The Stage 3 Public Participation Programme aims to facilitate early feedback from the public on the draft PODP before it is finalised. The comments and proposals received at this stage and the outcome of the Preliminary Technical Assessments would also be taken into account in finalising the PODP."
The community, Mr Fung added, had responded enthusiastically to the first two rounds of public participation programmes and there was general support to leisure-oriented lower density developments in Kai Tak.
"We are proposing a mix of land uses in this large site of Kai Tak, which is about 328 hectares, to meet public needs and aspirations, as well as to address various policy initiatives of the Government," he said.
To guide the planning and development of Kai Tak, the vision of developing a distinguished, vibrant, attractive and people-oriented Kai Tak by the Victoria Harbour has been adopted so as to realise the ideal of "returning the harbour to the people".
The Harbour Planning Principles and a number of other planning principles have also been applied in preparing the PODP. These include promoting continuous public participation; planning Kai Tak as a sustainable and environmentally friendly development and as a hub for sports, recreation, tourism, business and quality housing; promoting quality urban design and landscaping, pedestrian-oriented environment, integrated public spaces and maximising the waterfront for public enjoyment; preserving the heritage assets in Kai Tak; and integrating Kai Tak with its surrounding and enhancing opportunities for revitalising the surrounding districts.
"On the basis of 'no reclamation', the draft PODP has proposed a balance of residential, commercial office/hotel, sports and tourism developments in Kai Tak. The future Kai Tak development is proposed to accommodate an overall population of about 87,000 and to provide about 85,000 job opportunities.
"In main, the draft PODP proposes to create a new urban node at Kai Tak, supported by a belt of office developments, several residential neighbourhoods and a variety of Government, institution or community (GIC) facilities, a multi-purpose stadium complex fronting Victoria Harbour, a cruise terminal cum tourism node at the end of the ex-runway and a Metro Park in the northern section of the runway and surrounding the Kai Tak Approach Channel," Mr Fung said.
Under the draft PODP, there will be six main sub-areas of Kai Tak, namely Kai Tak City Centre, Sports Hub, Metro Park, Runway Precinct, Tourism and Leisure Hub, and Mixed Use Corner.
The proposed Kai Tak City Centre, to be located in the northeastern part of the north apron area, will be the main development area of Kai Tak. The area mainly consists of an office belt to meet the long-term demand in office space as recommended under the Hong Kong 2030 Study, inter-mixing with hotel developments. The Shatin to Central Link Kai Tak Station and the surrounding Station Square would form the centre of this new district.
The Station Square is full of trees and green open spaces. A Government centre is proposed to the east of the Station Square , comprising a Government offices building and a Government joint user building. To the south of the Station Square is a tree-lined Kai Tak residential neighbourhood (this is a small podium-free residential area comprising rows of town houses and medium-rise blocks in each street block) and a variety of Government, institution or community facilities. The committed public housing development sites with piling works completed are located in the eastern part of the area.
A multi-purpose stadium is planned at the waterfront areas. The stadium would become a new icon in the Victoria Harbour and would give a very strong impression of Kai Tak when entering the site from To Kwa Wan. The stadium complex, commanding a clear vista towards Lion Rock, would be connected to the Metro Park and to the Kai Tak Station through a convenient and easily accessible landscaped walkway and open space.
The Metro Park surrounding the Kai Tak Approach Channel will be connected with a long promenade around the runway and along the south apron area. This would be the waterfront park of Victoria Harbour in providing venues for passive and active recreation, and is planned to be the “central park” of East Kowloon . The park with a planned area of about 24 hectares is 1.4 times of Victoria Park.
Apart from the proposed Metro Park , the Kai Tak development will be supported by a network of district and local open spaces. The major open spaces include: Metro Park (24 hectares), Station Square (7 hectares), Sung Wong Toi Park (5 hectares), Runway Park (5.6 hectares), Hoi Sham Park (2.5 hectares) and waterfront promenade (25 hectares).
The Runway Precinct will be a low-density residential development with shop frontage at ground level. A continuous waterfront promenade is proposed on both sides of the Precinct to bring people to the harbour.
A two-berth cruise terminal and tourism node is proposed at Kai Tak Point, which will be two major anchor projects to attract local and overseas visitors. The Runway Park at the tip of the runway will provide the opportunity to include facilities of aviation theme, such as reprovision of the ex-air traffic control tower. A heliport is proposed abutting the cruise terminal at the runway tip to meet the forecast growth of cross-boundary helicopter services in the longer term. The heliport will create synergy with the cruise terminal and share the use of the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine facilities.
At the lower part of south apron area, a variety of commercial and residential, and GIC (including hospital) uses is proposed to help rejuvenate this waterfront area of Kowloon Bay . Apart from the open space corridor and waterfront promenade, a waterfront bazaar is also proposed as a venue for community activities.
Initiatives to ensure connectivity of Kai Tak with surrounding districts such as Kowloon City, San Po Kong, Kwun Tong, To Kwa Wan, Choi Hung and Kowloon Bay have been proposed, including enhancement to existing road, railway and pedestrian connections, construction of walkways and subways, bridges as well as waterfront promenade.
The Stage 3 Public Participation programme will last until August 23. During the period, the Government will consult the Legislative Council, Town Planning Board, Harbour-front Enhancement Committee, District Councils, related advisory committees, professional institutes and concerned groups.
A territory-wide public forum in Tsim Sha Tsui will be arranged on July 8, and district forums for Kwun Tong, Kowloon City and Wong Tai Sin will be organised on July 15, July 29 and August 5 respectively. Exhibitions of the draft PODP proposals, including a physical model, will be held at these forums as well as in other public venues during the two-month period.
The finalised PODP will provide the basis for revising the Kai Tak Outline Zoning Plans (OZPs) and for embarking on the engineering feasibility and environmental studies. The amended OZPs will be published for further public consultation under the statutory planning process.
The public can visit the Planning Department's website (http://www.pland.gov.hk) for more details of the Stage 3 Public Participation Programme of the Kai Tak Planning Review and the public consultation digest.
The Kai Tak Planning Review commenced in mid-2004, during which the Stage 1 Public Participation had initiated community discussion on the vision for Kai Tak development. The public had also expressed views on the Outline Concept Plans in the subsequent Stage 2 Public Participation, which was completed early this year.
5. Town Planning Board Guidelines revised
Hong Kong Government, 23 June 2006
The Town Planning Board (the Board) today (June 23) promulgated a set of revised guidelines.
The board's Guidelines on submission and publication of representations, comments on representations and further representations under the Town Planning Ordinance (TPO) have been revised to add a new paragraph 8 on arrangement for notification of the Board's decision on Development Scheme Plan (DSP) submitted by the Urban Renewal Authority (URA).
"In general, notification of the board's decision will be made after confirmation of the minutes, normally two weeks after the meeting. Shortly after each meeting, the board's spokesman will meet the media to explain the decision taken by the board that day and a gist of the decision will be uploaded to the board's website on the same day," a spokesman for the Board said.
"In view of the sensitive nature of DSP, the board will not release its decision on DSP until the DSP is exhibited under the TPO which would normally be three to four weeks after the date of meeting. This is necessary to allow time for follow-up actions should amendments to the DSP boundary be made. The same procedure applies to the board's consideration of the representations/comments/further representations on DSP," the spokesman said.
"For DSP with no amendment after the board's consideration, the board's decision will also be released three to four weeks after the meetings concerned."
Before the board's decision is released, the gist of the decision and the confirmed minutes in respect of DSP will not be uploaded to the board's website. Neither will verbal advice nor interim replies to written questions about the Board's decision be given.
The revised guidelines (TPB PG-No. 29A) are now available at the Secretariat of the Board at 15/F, North Point Government Offices, 333 Java Road, North Point (Tel: 2231 4810 or 2231 4835) and the Board's website (http://www.info.gov.hk/tpb).
Any enquiries on the board's Guidelines may be addressed to the Secretariat of the Board at the above address or by email (tpbpd@pland.gov.hk), or to the Planning Enquiry Counters of the Planning Department (Hotline: 2231 5000 and email: enquire@pland.gov.hk) at 17/F., North Point Government Offices and 14/F, Sha Tin Government Offices, 1 Sheung Wo Che Road, Sha Tin.
6. Draft Tsuen Wan West Outline Zoning Plan amended
Hong Kong Government, 23 Jun3 2006 The Town Planning Board today (June 23) announced amendments to the draft Tsuen Wan West Outline Zoning Plan (OZP).
The amendments mainly involve revisions to the definitions of "existing use" and "existing building", and revision to the Notes for the "Residential (Group E)" zone.
The draft Tsuen Wan West OZP No.S/TWW/16 incorporating the amendments is now available for public inspection during office hours at the Secretariat of the Town Planning Board, the Planning Enquiry Counters in North Point and Sha Tin, the Tsuen Wan and West Kowloon District Planning Office, the Tsuen Wan District Office and the Tsuen Wan Rural Committee.
Any person can make written representations in respect of the amendments to the Secretary of the Town Planning Board on or before August 23, 2006. Representations made to the board will be made available for public inspection.
Copies of the draft plan are available for sale at the Map Publications Centres in North Point and Yau Ma Tei. The electronic version of the plan can be viewed on the board's website at http://www.info.gov.hk/tpb .
7. Land resumption for drainage improvement works in Sheung Shui
Hong Kong Government, 23 June 2006
The Lands Department will resume 42 private agricultural lots with a total area of about 15,386 square metres in Kwu Tung South, Sheung Shui, to facilitate drainage improvement works to alleviate the flooding problem in the area.
A Notice for the land resumption was published in the Gazette today (June 23).
The project is scheduled to begin in December, 2006, and will take about 24 months to complete.
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