Fletcher wants to add council land to quarry housing plan

Fletcher Building has plans to build a mix of terrace homes and apartments up to 10 storeys high in the Three Kings Quarry.

Fletcher Residential, a subsidiary of New Zealand's biggest listed company, has applied to Auckland Council to have the Three Kings quarry re-zoned for apartments up to 10 levels high in the deep pit and wants council land included in its scheme.

Steve Evans, Fletcher Building housing chief operating officer, said two private plan changes had been lodged as alternate options - the first is a scheme on 21.6ha of land encompassing the pit and land Fletcher does not own including the town square, two sports fields and recreational parkland; the second option "would see development only on the company-owned 15.2ha Three Kings quarry site".

"This option presents the same housing precincts, however, it delivers less extensive community spaces and sports fields than the preferred proposal," Evans said.

He wants the council to back the bigger plan for the 21.6ha site because he says that will enhance the wider area around the pit.

While the company's preferred option of including council land has met with political opposition from Auckland councillor Cathy Casey, Evans said the first scheme was the best.

"The Three Kings development promotes housing diversity with a range of high-quality dwellings including two-to-three storey terrace homes, three-to-four storey apartments and 10-storey cascading apartments set against the quarry slope. Fletcher Residential's preferred plan change application involves exchanging land to better utilise surrounding Crown land. This will create significant recreational space with two sports fields, a town square connecting the precinct to the Three Kings town centre, a convention centre and the historic Three Kings Oval," he said.

The Winstone quarry is only 8km from the CBD and new links would be created to better connect the new housing scheme with the town centre and the last remaining volcanic cone, Te Tatua a Riukiuta Maunga (Big King), Evans said.

Steven Reid, Three Kings United Football general manager, said Fletcher's first and preferred proposal would deliver new amenities to the local community.

"The comprehensive plan for the development at Three Kings Reserve will bring much-needed football pitches for all of our members and families. It will allow a space that's currently under-utilised to be developed in a way that offers benefits to the wider community for recreation and year-round sports," Reid said.

Fletcher hopes the plan change applications will be heard early next year. Its proposals have met strong local opposition, fighting to have the city's deepest quarry filled in before new houses are built deep below ground level.

Three Kings United Group president Garry Bryant said the quarry was 34m below road level after being mined for about a century.

"The public wants it filled in," he said. "It would then be like a sloping billiard table, contoured up from Mt Eden Rd to the Big King. This would then better restore the slope of Big King."

Emeritus Professor Dick Bellamy, a former Auckland Regional councillor and now chairman of the South Epsom Planning Group, said Fletcher's plans had generated dismay and concern in the community.