KEY POINTS:
The coastal headland at Orakei can take some housing but not on the scale envisaged by developer Tony Gapes, say opponents.
"You must stop man from destroying what God and nature have gifted to all of us," Orakei resident Mony Paz told the resource consent hearing over the application by Mr Gapes to build 146 apartments at 228 Orakei Rd.
Mr Gapes already has resource consent to build 42 apartments at 246 Orakei Rd. The headland could eventually have about 400 apartments.
"Unscrupulous developers, driven by greed, stood before you for the past three days in an effort to persuade you of the merits of replacing this piece of paradise on earth with 15m high concrete blocks," Mr Paz said.
He was one of hundreds of local residents opposed to the five blocks of apartments, some of whom started making verbal submissions yesterday after three days of submissions from expert witnesses representing Mr Gapes' development company, the Redwood Group.
The Auckland Volcanic Cones Society made an impassioned plea to the four commissioners not to allow the apartment blocks to go over the 15m height limit allowed for the site.
The apartment blocks are generally within the 15m height limit, but the lift towers and rooftop services are up to 2.03m above the 15m rule.
Spokesman Greg Smith said while 15m was far too high for a such a sensitive volcanic cone landscape, it accepted historical circumstances allowed for development.
The society's main concern was that of landscape, especially when the development was viewed from the wider environs of Orakei Basin.
"One of the main attractions for Orakei Basin is that it can be seen in its entirely from many viewing points in the surrounding area. At the moment, despite the presence of a number of existing buildings, the naturalness of the area still predominates," Mr Smith said.
He said the Orakei peninsula was not the "concrete jungle" of the central city where tall buildings and lift overruns were the norm.
The Auckland Regional Policy Statement invited a strict adherence to height rules when it came to protecting volcanic cones. Other planning documents sought to protect the cones and the Auckland volcanic field had been nominated for World Heritage Status.
"If we end up with a development one storey less than what the developer wants, then that would be a good thing for the volcanic heritage landscape," said Mr Smith.
Warren Tuohey, a Remuera resident who chairs the Orakei Residents' Group set up to oppose the development, said if he could have one wish it would be to reduce the blocks by one storey. He said residents had always accepted there would be some development in the area.
"Good developments are an asset to the city but bad ones become slums, breed discontent and eventually crime," he said.
