A new zoning plan for SoHo has been submitted to the Town Planning Board. Could it be the answer to our redevelopment woes? By Sarah Fung.

A30-story apartment complex. A boutique hotel. Office blocks. Unless something is done soon, this is the future of SoHo. Fearing the effect of unchecked redevelopment in this historical area, the Central and Western Concern Group has drafted a plan to turn the 4.7-square-kilometer district—stretching from Wellington Street to Caine Road—into a “Special Design Area,” meaning that there will be controls on building heights, plot ratios and design specifications (for more information, see box, right). The plan has been submitted to the Town Planning Board and is open for comments until August 29.

The plan was put together by Ian Brownlee, director of planning consultant company Master Plan. “In the past, people would fight the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) on their plans without addressing the principal issue: we need to protect this area as a whole,” he says. He and others would like to see a policy in place whereby anyone who wants to build a high-rise above certain restrictions would have to take their request to the Town Planning Board.

Assigning areas for special protection is a tried-and-tested heritage preservation method in other world cities such as London or Paris, where districts—rather than just buildings—are protected if they have historical or cultural value. In the view of John Batten of the Central and Western Concern group, “The government protects individual buildings, but it needs to look at the bigger picture to preserve the unique atmosphere of special areas.” Local business operators and residents alike welcome the new proposal. Miss Lin, who works at a vegetable stall on Gage Street, says that she would like to see the area kept the way it is. “It will affect my income if any changes are made to the area; this plan sounds good to me.” Meanwhile, resident Mark Ravaz loves the area as it is, and believes “the plan to keep the buildings low-rise is a good idea.”

But by restricting development, would we be hindering business for SoHo restaurants or dampening the value of property in the area? Not necessarily. “What people need to understand,” says Batten, “is that the only people who really profit from developments here are big property developers.” Katty Law, also of the Central and Western Concern Group, urges people to look at long-term effects rather than short-term cash boosts. “Keeping development to a minimum will ultimately drive property value up; the area will be more desirable due to a pleasant environment with less traffic and a lower population density,” she says. These are sentiments that Mr. Wong, owner of Bistro Manchu on Elgin Street, agrees with. “For me, it’s more about the history behind the neighborhood. I value that more than the money I make. It would be sad to see everything here destroyed in the name of redevelopment.”

URA spokesman Gary Fu says they are “studying carefully the rezoning application and will provide our comments to the Town Planning Board in due course.” In the meantime, the Town Planning Board and Development Bureau said they were unable to comment on the proposal.

But is this just another doomed project? After all, conservation battles so far such as the campaign for the Graham, Peel and Gage Street Market have fallen on deaf ears.

Batten is optimistic. “Since the Star Ferry was pulled down, public opinion has been very important to the government, so I think we’re in a position where policy makers will be more inclined to really pay attention to us.” Supporting this theory are the recent concessions the URA made to public interest groups in its plans to redevelop the Graham Street Market, saying it would undertake the redevelopment in phases, and provide real market shops rather than an indoor mall. This is a significant step in the right direction, considering the URA has never paid any heed to concern groups in the past.

Brownlee too remains quietly confident about the plan’s prospects. “The plan resonates with what many people think is good for this area. The government should seize this opportunity to do something really good.”

What’s in the Proposal?

The rezoning application stresses the following approaches:

1. Imposing a 12-storey height restriction on new buildings.
2. Retaining the area’s original street layout.
3. Designating Graham, Peel and Gage streets “market streets” to ensure their continued operation.
4. Ensuring that development in the area is appropriate and in keeping with surroundings.
5. Promoting regeneration by individual property owners
6. Improving traffic flow, market infrastructure and hygiene conditions.

Voice your opinion on the proposal for the new zoning plan by emailing the Town Planning Board before Aug 29 at tpbpd@pland.gov.hk, quoting “application Y/H3/3.” The Central and Western Concern Group will hold a petition on select days by the Central Escalator this week starting from around 5pm.

For more information, visit www.centralandwestern.org.