Advertisers and shopkeepers throughout Auckland city are anxious about the changes. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Public hearings start today into an overhaul of bylaws to ban billboards in central Auckland and cut signage across the city. The City Vision-led plan aims to make the city more attractive to visitors and workers. The Herald's Bernard Orsman explains what is being proposed, possible changes, who is for and against and the make-up of the panel considering the review.

FOR
The left-leaning City Vision bloc on the council is leading the bylaw review with support from Mayor Dick Hubbard, independents Bill Christian and Faye Storer, as well as Citizens & Ratepayers Now councillor Graeme Mulholland. Action Hobson councillors Christine Caughey and Richard Simpson have withdrawn their support for the billboard ban and sought a compromise with the industry. The pro-change councillors have limited support from some community boards and 250 or so mostly residential submitters.

* "Over the years, commercial interests have spoiled the natural and developed beauty of Auckland and it has become one big medium for advertising" - Pat Patterson, Herne Bay.

* "If this bylaw is not passed the character of the city will continue to be affected and degraded with ugly advertising that will no doubt continue to get larger and larger" - Damon Keen, Westmere.

* "I particularly like the way that the rules are more restrictive on heritage buildings and in residential areas but more relaxed in industrial areas, which seems like a sensible balance" - Chris Lewis, Mt Albert.

* "Lighting [to illuminate signs] is so bright that even with heavy, fully-lined curtains we are unable to shut out light during the night and the few birds in the area are confused enough that they sing all night" - Philip and Lesley Lindesay, Newton.

* "This type of visual pollution [signs on old buildings in Symonds St and Karangahape Rd] is not allowed in most of the major cities I have visited in developed countries" - Sallie Keegan, Herne Bay.

AGAINST
The billboard industry has vigorously opposed the review and offered, without success, to set up a working party with representatives of the council to enforce the existing bylaws better.
Businesses, from corner dairies to banks and oil companies, are opposed. The centre-right C&R Now block on the council, with the exception of Graeme Mulholland, opposes the severity of the review.

* "A ridiculously trivial gesture by a bunch of air-headed killjoys who seem determined to remove any reason for anybody other than themselves to visit or enjoy Auckland" - Roxanne Ashby.

* "This will mean job losses of four fulltime staff and four contractors if this bylaw goes ahead" - Kathleen Heathcote, H & H Billboards, Glenfield.

"For a corner wine shop, a small suburban 'one-man' bar or a family-run restaurant, the cost of altering their signage to comply with the proposed changes will be prohibitive" - Sara Tucker, Hospitality Association.

* "This is a complete and utter waste of my time and my money for what I believe has no benefit for myself, my business, my customers and Auckland ratepayers" - Vinod Ranchod, V & B Streetwear, Panmure.

* "We are a charitable organisation that puts up billboards with simple 'messages from God' that lighten people's day and help them think about God in a different way" - Jeremy O'Hanlon, Godmarks.

* "It would be fair to say that there are few issues that have elicited as much concern from our [9000-business] membership as this issue has" - Alex Swney, Heart of the City chief executive.

Draft bylaw proposals:

* Ban on billboards in the Queen St valley - including Britomart, Karangahape Rd and the Viaduct Harbour.

* Ban on billboards in other shopping centres such as Newmarket, Parnell and Ponsonby.

* Billboards banned on scheduled heritage buildings and within 30m of scheduled heritage buildings.

* 205 of the 307 billboards in Auckland City isthmus would go.

* Billboards to come down within 18 months.

Changes recommended in officers' report:

* Consider small, wall-mounted billboards in the central city. Suggestions include one billboard per building no bigger than 50sq m or 20 per cent of the wall area, whichever is smaller.

* Allow billboards in mixed residential/commercial areas that do not face the street or residential developments.

* Allow billboards on land bordering motorways and railway corridors that is not alongside residential land.

*Extend grace period from 18 months to three years.

SIGNS

Draft bylaw proposal:

* Above-veranda signs banned.

* Veranda fascia signs no higher than 300mm.

* Under-veranda signs no higher than 300mm.

* Signs to cover no more than 20 per cent of shop frontage.

* Limit of one sandwich board per shop (or two where premises have more than one road frontage).

* Businesses to comply with new rules within 18 months.

Changes recommended in officers' report:

* Allow businesses one above-veranda sign no more than 3m above a veranda.

* Increase size of veranda fascia signs to 450mm.

* Increase size of under-veranda signs to 600mm.

* Extend grace period from 18 months to three years.

Who's who on the hearings panel:

Five councillors and urban designer Garth Falconer will hear 114 verbal submissions over nine days of hearings. Mr Falconer, who is a founding director of the Isthmus Group landscape and urban design consultancy and a member of the council's urban design panel, was appointed last month following claims the panel was "stacked" with anti-billboard and signs councillors. The five councillors, Glenda Fryer (City Vision), Penny Sefuiva (City Vision), Richard Northey (Labour), Faye Storer (independent) and Graeme Mulholland (C&R Now), all voted in favour of the draft bylaw. Last week, the council decided to deal with the signs and billboard bylaws separately, with different chairs to consider each. But the membership of the panel will stay the same for both bylaws.