Developer changes plan after residents complain

A developer has dropped two floors off plans for a 10-storey apartment block on Te Atatu Peninsula in response to residents' protests about its size and impact on the neighbourhood.

But residents say a building half that size would be acceptable.

At a public hearing, Waitakere City Council planners said resource consent should be granted to developer Duopharma Pacific, whose changes would reduce effects on the neighbourhood.

The proposal was now for a building 23.4m high with 54 apartments instead of 61 and ground floor shops.

It was on the site of a former BP service station on Te Atatu Rd and at a density of 154 dwellings per hectare was a step towards achieving a "more compact urban form in this part of the city".

Hearings commissioners reserved their decision on the bid, which drew 164 submissions against and eight in favour.

The Te Atatu Business Association and residents said the proposal was still outside the District Plan rules which encourage varied housing types.

"It's a little better but still not good enough," said spokesman Graeme Smith. "We support more intensive housing in the council's plan for the town centre. But this is totally over the top."

Te Atatu already had the six-storey Bella Vista apartment block, said Mr Smith, but it did not shade its neighbours.

The proposal was for outside an area that was suggested for significant development in the council's town centre renewal concept plan.

Mr Smith said the council spent $36 million on the civic centre in Henderson to make it a showcase for Eco City sustainable buildings.

"So why would you approve a building in Te Atatu which has no sustainable features about it?"

Resident Jillian Cremer wrote a submission against the plan and went to the hearing.

"It would still be a horrible thing to see there," she said.

She said most residents at the hearing were not against a building being on that site - "it's just the size, bulk and look of it".

"Most said if it were four-storey there would be no problem."

A peninsula resident for eight years, Mrs Cremer said she never thought there would be demand for multi-story apartment block on that site.

"There is no requirement for one way out here. It would be better in the Henderson CBD."