Residents are pushing back on the idea of community housing to be established at the old Pak'nSave supermarket site on Commerce St, Kaitaia. Photo / File
Residents are pushing back on the idea of community housing to be established at the old Pak'nSave supermarket site on Commerce St, Kaitaia. Photo / File
Kaitaia business representatives and residents have sent a clear message to developers of the former Pak'nSave site on Commerce St, saying it's a "hard no" for social or emergency housing in the middle of their town.
A number of concerned locals took part in a community forum held at Kaitaia's Digital Hub on Tuesday night to discuss the future of Kaitaia's township, including the "eyesore" on Kaitaia's main street.
The former Pak'nSave supermarket has been empty since parent company Foodstuffs built a new store on the north side of town in 2011.
A number of proposals for the site have been offered over the years, including a youth centre, but never amounted to anything.
Last month Far North District Council's commercial arm, Far North Holdings (FNH), announced it was in discussions with Foodstuffs to purchase the site and was looking to develop a town square as well as some form of community housing.
Andrea Panther, chairwoman of Kaitaia Business Association (KBA), hosted Tuesday night's event and said she and others were worried about the potential negative impact of housing in the town centre on surrounding businesses.
Kaitaia Business Association chairwoman Andrea Panther. Photo / Supplied
She warned if housing was to go ahead at the site, FNH would need to carefully consider what type of provider it went with.
"There will be a lot of unhappy people out there if this goes in the direction of some of the other things we've seen elsewhere," Panther said.
"Why can't they consider a hotel or housing for young couples who can't afford to buy a house?
"There is no high-end hotel accommodation here and as a result, we're losing people out to the coast as no one wants to stay in Kaitaia."
Long-time tourism and local business operator Murray Harrison agreed with Panther and said he wanted to see a focus back on the tourism sector instead of housing.
"We need to do something to attract the people back here again and to lift the town up," Harrison said.
Club Physical Kaitaia co-owner Kylie Sutherland-Day said she too was opposed to any type of community housing in town and felt there had to be better options for development elsewhere.
"It's a hard no from me," she said.
"There are plenty of other places this type of housing could go and I just think it would be bad for the town.
"It's way too close to our businesses and you don't want people just hanging around all over the streets."
Knights The Jewellers director Monty Knight said he had worked on the main street of Kaitaia for 62 years.
He said he was hopeful another supermarket might find its way to the site following the Government's announcement of a new law to ban supermarkets from imposing restrictive covenants on land use.
"Building emergency housing at the Pak'nSave site is a sin," Knight said.
Knights The Jewellers owner Monty Knight. Photo / Myjanne Jensen
"Now the Government has announced it is taking covenants off sites like this one, it could actually mean another supermarket could be built there."
FNH project manager Jason Cauvain was also present at the event and said nothing was yet set in stone for the former Pak'nSave site.
He did make it clear, however, that two particular housing options were out of the question.
"Conversations and rumours flying around about this being turned into a social or emergency housing need to be quashed as there are no plans to develop that type of thing," Cauvain said.
"We will be working with KBA and the Te Hiku Open Spaces Revitalisation working group on a commercial and retail strategy which will allow us to make some decisions about what to do with that site.
"This is not about just focusing on the Pak'nSave building, we're looking at long-term solutions for all of Kaitaia and these sites form part of that bigger conversation."
Emma Wooster, head of co-operative public relations at Foodstuffs NZ, said since the failure of the youth centre proposal, Foodstuffs North Island had continued to look for a viable solution to ensure the former Pak'nSave site could be returned to the community.
Wooster said the co-operative had since entered into an agreement with Far North Holdings with the intention that the land would be used for urban community development.
Foodstuffs has committed significant funding for the site towards that goal.
However, in apparent contradiction to FNH's statement, Wooster said community housing was part of the deal.
"It's always been our intention the land will be used for community benefit, so one of the components in this donation is that the land is used for the agreed purpose of community housing."
To help figure out what to do at the Pak'nSave site, as well as other sites across town, KBA has hired First Retail Group to come up with a separate commercial and retail strategy.
FRG has worked on projects around New Zealand (and the world) to identify problems and solutions for consumer-facing sectors including retail, hospitality, healthcare and tourism.
The group presented its plans for Kaitaia on Tuesday night, explaining they would be spending the coming months working with community groups, iwi, businesses and other key stakeholders to identify the needs of the community through surveys and face to face consultations.
First Retail Group managing director Chris Wilkinson said in his view, striking the right balance between attracting more people back into the town with creating opportunities for businesses was key to restoring vitality to Kaitaia town centre.
"If we want to attract people to work in Kaitaia, we need to encourage them to stay and spend money here," Wilkinson said.
Chris Wilkinson, managing director of First Retail Group. Photo / Mark Mitchell
"We don't want the doctor working at Kaitaia Hospital to be living in Mangōnui or somewhere else, we want them to live here.
"We therefore have to think about creating contemporary places for people to live as a possible solution, so somewhere like the Pak'nSave site could be a mixed-use type of development, with some kind of housing at the top and commercial offices below.
"Essential worker housing for local hospital workers or retirement home workers is one option, for example."
Far North District councillor Felicity Foy spearheaded the Te Hiku Masterplan and has researched town centre revitalisation for Kaitaia.
She said she could empathise with people's concerns regarding housing on the main street, but said it wouldn't be much different to what already existed in the town.
"I can understand people are wary of change, however, mixed-use (a mix of retail/commercial with housing above) has already been in the Kaitaia town centre for more than 50 years," Foy said.
"If you just look down the main street on both sides, you can see housing above the existing shops.
"I guess this is a bit like 'back to the future', where big-box retailers like supermarkets have moved out and now original mixed-use designs are being reconsidered to bring more foot traffic back into the town centre."
On May 19, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister David Clark announced the Commerce (Grocery Sector Covenants) Amendment Bill would effectively ban restrictive covenants on land, and exclusive covenants on leases.
It would also make existing covenants unenforceable.
"This practice leaves customers without choice and sees suburbs and shopping centres with only one option," Clark said.
Consumer NZ CEO Jon Duffy said more than 90 land covenants had been identified across the country, of which the major grocery retailers had entered into, and more than 100 exclusivity covenants in lease contracts.
"However, Foodstuffs North Island has advised it has already released restrictive covenants on 58 per cent of affected titles," Duffy said.
