Built Environment

JCA’s 2013 mass survey asked local residents to “Name up to three things you think should be built in the area. The top five answers were as follows:

New Library

Population growth in the expanded catchment for the Johnsonville Library on Broderick Road now far exceeds its capacity.  Similarly, planned residential intensification will add ‘qualitative demand’ for 21st century library services. These forces combine to create an overwhelming demand for a substantial, world-class Library facility as a physical and cultural centrepiece for the Northern Suburbs’ communities.

Redeveloped or New Shopping Mall

Local people want and need high quality retail options and real choice between retailers. Everybody we talk to says it is high time for the Johnsonville Mall to be redeveloped. A number of issues — including monopolistic commercial property management — have conspired to prevent commercial redevelopment in recent years. So, right now, the disparate stakeholders (central and local government agencies, Johnsonville retailers, and commercial property operators) must explore new solutions. The current arrangement — where one company controls all of the prime retail between the motorway and the railway — doesn’t cut the mustard.

New public green space in central Johnsonville

Quality open public space is essential to any good community centre. A continuing lack of such space within the Johnsonville Triangle cannot continue. it doesn’t have to be all about parks; it could be as ‘ordinary’ as the Sate Highway road reserve and the rail corridors. JCA is working with the City Council and land-owners to explore imaginative solutions to this problem.

Safer pedestrian access and better traffic flow

Wellington City Council has approved a major upgrade of the Johnsonville Triangle — the area that includes Johnsonville Mall and its car parks. So, there is new scope to design and build for safer pedestrian access and better traffic flow. JCA continues to engage with WCC, NZTA and commercial operators to ensure all are ‘rowing in the same direction’ toward integrated, locally focussed solutions.

• JCA is working for pedestrian access in Johnsonville to be raised to standards consistent with the objectives of Wellington City Council’s proud claim to be an eminently ‘walkable’ city.
• Solving Johnsonville’s traffic woes will also take a lot of work. We deserve priority treatment because Council has already defined Johnsonville as a a ‘sub-
  regional centre’, the largest services hub outside the CBD, with people from all over the North Suburbs either visiting or transiting every day of the week.

Cinema

A cinema is seen by many as critical for leveraging a variety of synergistic entertainment options in Johnsonville. With a rapidly expanding local market, the demand for a boutique local cinema is set to expand significantly. With a newfound focus on shared facilities, and at least two major new public facilities on the way, the possibilities for novel approaches for achieving this objective are numerous, and exciting.