Residents oppose development plan in prime Auckland location

A proposal to build 87 dwellings at a site in a prime East Auckland location has drawn flak from existing residents.

Concerns appeared to focus on the strain the development in Half Moon Bay would place on the volume of traffic, parking, road safety and schools in the area.

More than 820 submissions on the development had been filed with Auckland Council by the time public submissions closed on Monday, a spokesperson from the council said.

Developer HND HMB Ltd had filed for resource consent to build the dwellings on a 1.4-hectare site currently used by charity Stand Tū Māia (Stand for Children) at 3 Pigeon Mountain Rd.

But residents who lived on adjacent streets such as Compass Point Way have been vocal in their opposition to the project.

A Chinese real estate agent, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the public nature of her work, has lived on Compass Point Way for three years.

She was concerned that a single entrance serving the new development would be built on her street instead of Pigeon Mountain Rd.

"Compass Point Way is a dead end," she said. "The 80 or so existing households [on the street] all need to use this road and now we will have 87 more households."

The real estate agent was also concerned about parking space, as many people catching the ferry from Half Moon Bay wharf already parked their vehicles on Compass Point Way.

The narrow two-way street would struggle to accommodate additional demand for parking, she said.

Residents located further from the site expressed concern about the additional strain on public services in the neighbourhood.

Lu Wang, who lives on Macleans Rd a short distance from the site, expressed concern about the impact of demand on local schools, which include Pigeon Mountain Primary School, Bucklands Beach Intermediate and Macleans College.

The three schools were all well-regarded by parents in the area.

Wang had been told about the schools' existing struggles with capacity during recent parent-teacher meetings.

"Resources in these schools are very limited, and teachers are already under a lot of pressure. There aren't enough classrooms," Wang said. "If they build so many houses, there will be some families with children, which will put a lot of pressure on the schools."

Macleans Rd resident Audrey Yang said streets in the area were constantly crowded, something that could impact safety for children in the area as they walked to and from school.

"The traffic is already quite heavy," Yang said. "If we have uncontrollable traffic variables or an increase in the number of students added to the mix, could this worsen road safety?"

She also warned that schools might have to commit a lot of resources to deal with new enrollment applications.

"It's not saying that I'm against development," she said. "I think that land needs to be developed but are they [Auckland Council] taking the hidden social costs into consideration?"

Diane Parkinson, principal of Bucklands Beach Intermediate, agreed the proposed development would impact schools and traffic in the neighbourhood.

Parkinson said her school was already facing rising demand for enrollments and new classrooms would almost certainly be needed if student numbers increased.

But building new classrooms would create backlog issues, she said.

"We can't get classrooms until we can show that the population has increased," she said. "It's almost like it creates a snowball effect for schools."

Don Malcolm, chair of the Compass Point Way Residents Association, has lived on the street for 20 years.

The association was created last year in response to the resource consent application.

"We're not against development. We're quite open that something has to be built on that site. It's a valuable piece of land," he said. "We just like it to be reflective of the neighbours and the neighbourhood."

He said existing houses on Compass Point Way were all built to a certain size due to requirements outlined in a building covenant.

However, the proposed new townhouses on the adjacent development site - some 60 square metres in size - were not in step with the neighbourhood's relaxed personality.

"The density is too much," Malcolm said. "It's out of character with the rest of Compass Point Way."

A spokesperson from the council said he was unable to comment on the details of the application, as it was still being assessed.

James Dowding, head of resource consents at Auckland Council, said a report would be prepared by planners and made publicly available once the application had been reviewed.

The report would include any matters raised in submissions, he said.

Following this, a hearing would be held before independent commissioners who would ultimately come to a final decision, he said.

HND HMB Ltd did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story.