Drawn-out battle to axe palm pest

Peter and Christiane Clark said it was the council's right to remove the phoenix palm. Photo / Brett Phibbs

How many people does it take to chop a dangerous palm tree and a poisonous leaf shrub on a community reserve?

Well, in North Shore City, at least, it takes a lot more than someone guiding a chainsaw and a helper or two to feed branches into the chipper.

Yesterday, three Takapuna hearings commissioners took half a day to consider an application by the city council's parks department to remove a phoenix palm and an oleander tree from the Castor Bay Beach reserve.

They gave consent, on condition the trees be replaced by more benign species.

They had first considered a report on the application under the Resource Management Act by land use consents planner Suzanne Murray, who recommended consent be granted.

Her recommendation had been reviewed by the council's team leader land use consents and approved by the council's operations and resource management group manager.

Ms Murray's report was partly based on information from specialist assessments by the council's central ward environmental services arborist, Gavin Donaldson, who supported the application, which had been prepared by Andre Le Claire, the council's parks arborist.

Mr Donaldson had his report "peer reviewed" by a different land use consents planner to Ms Murray.

Arborist Mr Le Claire's report was reviewed by the parks operations manager and approved by the parks liaison manager.

Yesterday's hearing was attended by three residents, whose homes adjoin the reserve and who wanted to add emphasis to their written pleas for the trees to go.

They were backed by the written submissions of three other residents, as well as the Tree Council's field officer Hueline Massey.

But there were also six objectors to removing the trees as well as the Castor Bay Residents & Ratepayers Association.

Association chairman Fiona Downes appeared in person to speak to the commissioners, though the association's secretary had already written to them stating the association's decision, made by its six-person committee.

Yesterday, the Takapuna commissioners, city councillor Jan O'Connor, Takapuna Community Board chairman Martin Lawes and board member Fay Freeman, agreed to the tree's removal.

However, this was not their first try at dealing with the application.

When the proposal was first brought before them, in November, they decided that a meeting on site at the park, with 20 residents, in September 2008, was not adequate public consultation.

They ordered the proposal be debated with the community, including obtaining the views of the Takapuna Community Board and the Castor Bay association.

The community board voted to give its consent, as land owner, for removal.

The proposal was again taken to the Takapuna commissioners in May, when the decision was taken to notify, or fully advertise, the proposal. The reason was that consultation had not resulted in a consensus of support within the neighbourhood.

Notification of the proposal resulted in written submissions from 13 parties.

After yesterday's hearing, reserve neighbour Peter Clark was upset.

"We see a lot of wasted money in this application. There was no need to apply for resource consent to remove a phoenix palm. It's council's right to remove it."

He said the spikes of the palm had injured him and others and the species was on the Auckland Regional Council's list of "pest trees".

The oleander was a poisonous North American shrub, and eating a leaf was considered to be lethal to children.

Fiona Downes said the palm tree was a magnificent specimen and should be moved somewhere else rather than chopped.

However, she agreed there was no need for the resource consent for either tree.

"But I strongly support keeping public hearings for large trees which have strong amenity, on council reserves or the coast."