Residents lose battle against storage units

By David Dunham
Residents opposing a plan to build a 600-unit self storage complex at the bottom of their street have lost their fight after Tauranga City Council approved the project.
The application by Kiwimark International for resource consent for the development at the end of Westminster Drive in Judea was granted yesterday following a public hearing last month.
It had been recommended for resource consent by a planner but went to a hearing as a discretionary activity because self-storage facilities are not permitted in the Residential A Zone.
The plan angered residents in Westminster Drive, Winchester Terrace and Ely Place as they believed the extra traffic from the development will put people's safety at risk and will turn their peaceful area into a noisy one.
But despite more than 50 objectors packing out the council chamber for the hearing, plus six residents addressing councillors calling for the proposal to be rejected, the council sided with Mount Maunganui-based Kiwimark.
The council concluded that any potentially adverse effects from the units will be no more than minor and will in fact "enable the community to provide for their future economic and social well-being".
Westminster Drive resident David Brown, who organised the petition against the units, said the council's conclusions were laughable and residents would not benefit at all from the development.
"Our house values will drop because of this. Who wants to buy a house with 600 units at the end of the street? I think it will affect our day-to-day living," he told the Bay of Plenty Times.
"It seems anyone can come along and develop land.
"People should be very worried about this."
Kiwimark director Rob Lilly was not available for comment at the time of going to print but at last month's hearing he said residents in the area would probably use the units and the site would generate less traffic than a housing development on the land would.