The America's Cup base row "appears to be heading back to the drawing board" after a series of meetings between the New Zealand government, Auckland Council and Team New Zealand, according to Bernard Orsman of the NEW ZEALAND HERALD. New Zealand Minister for Economic Development David Parker spent four hours visiting the proposed sites on the waterfront before holding two meetings over the weekend with Auckland Mayor Phil Goff and Team New Zealand Manager Grant Dalton, among others. Parker, the minister responsible for the Cup, said, "I don't want to sound dictatorial but I am expecting to see some revised plans." He said that he spoke of the "need to value environmental services and not assume water space will be taken up with more piers." He expects to see some variations on the current themes within the next week, which, he said, "could include" using some waterfront land on Beaumont Street, just south of Silo Park at Wynyard Quarter. The parties' visions for the event -- and the future of Auckland waterfront -- "differ greatly," with Goff favoring the cheaper NZ$137M ($93.4M) option that disperses the bases across three city wharves, while Team New Zealand's preference is to centralize the bases on a NZ$220M ($150M) extension to Halsey Wharf covering 3 hectares of water space at a cost of NZ$190M ($129.5M) (NZ HERALD, 11/20).
