What we oppose is the number and size of the proposed homes. We are frustrated with the processes of Kāinga Ora, whose goal is apparently to “create homes and communities that allow New Zealanders to thrive”. (Kāinga Ora website). We question how this objective will be met without involving communities in the planning and design of their own neighbourhoods. And by community we are referring to those people who will be the neighbours, supporters and friends of new whānau living here, not the social agencies that will delegate the houses to whānau or manage them.
Fitting three four-bedroom, two-storey homes on to a 923m2 section will leave very little outdoor space for the whānau who live here. The plans for this build show outdoor spaces are indeed car-parking and driveways. These four-bedroom homes will be delegated to larger whānau, with tamariki. We are concerned the lack of safe outdoor space will not allow whānau to enjoy a quality standard of living. We are concerned about the three driveways on this dangerous corner and the increase to traffic flow in an area with high foot traffic.
Your article briefly mentioned Huxley Road’s “already compromised drainage network”. This is a severe understatement. Ask anyone on Huxley Road, “What happens in a heavy rain?” Answer: surface flooding, sewage backlog, blockages, and water/sewage pooling up on sections! Some of us have to use our neighbours’ toilets and showers when our own home’s systems can’t cope. The recent heavy rain saw the council pump trucks here daily to relieve the backlog.
The huge increase in concrete areas this build will bring, along with increased wastewater, is a recipe for disaster. Residents of Huxley Road have a long history of asking for support from GDC with these water issues, and their response is to grant resource consent to a development which will see even more water pass through this broken system. The resource consent application tells us the site will be raised by 300mm! We ask, where is the impact assessment for properties at 37 and 35 Huxley Road, and 16 Porter Street, who will now receive even more runoff because of this elevation?
And yes, we have read the 223-page resource consent application. We are aware that Kāinga Ora has met the resource consent requirements, though not “easily” as it says misleadingly in your article. Naomi Whitewood tells us “issues of light, privacy, noise, vehicle movement and drainage had been addressed by council as part of the resource consent process”. If you read the application you will find it says “Non-Compliant” next to the following areas:
1. Distances of vehicle crossings from intersections; 2. Sight lines; 3. Minimum distance between vehicle crossings; 4. Allotment size and dimensions; 5. Boundary set-back requirements.
Many of our same concerns are also noted in the application, but written off with “adverse effects less than minor”. We don’t see sewage backlog as “less than minor”.
We are asking for a rethink. We understand Kāinga Ora has a mandate to build more homes. We tautoko this 100 percent. But we reiterate, you can’t solve the housing crisis by building a new housing crisis! This is too much money to spend on homes that won’t work for our people; both new Kāinga Ora tenants, and existing neighbours.
GDC and Kāinga Ora have missed an opportunity to consult the community, and we would have been willing participants in that process. They ask us to be “open-minded” and now we ask the same of them. Listen to the people who already live here and want to keep living here. If Kāinga Ora has a “responsibility to make the best use of the land it already owns,” then start by consulting communities, and building homes that work for everyone, long term.
