KEY POINTS:
Orakei residents have accused council planners of working with a developer to force through a residential development on the water's edge over Christmas.
The Orakei Residents' Society is furious at council planners, saying they are putting the interests of developer Tony Gapes ahead of 500 people who are opposed to plans to build hundreds of small apartments on prime coastal land just five minutes from downtown Auckland.
Mr Gapes submitted revised plans for about 200 apartments at 228 Orakei Rd on December 11 and planners set a hearing date for January 21. He already has resource consent for 42 apartments at 246 Orakei Rd - and could eventually build about 400 apartments on the Orakei headland.
The society said it would be difficult to prepare its case over the Christmas period when many opponents and professional experts needed to work on submissions were away. Vital material on the revised plans would not be available until January 11.
Mayor John Banks, one of those opposed, has previously said Mr Gapes had some of the worst developments in Auckland to his name.
They include two leaky projects - the Silverfield Terraces site in St Lukes and the Eden One and Eden Two townhouse developments in Mt Eden - and the bulky Scene One, Scene Two and Scene Three apartment blocks opposite the Ports of Auckland wharves.
Society president Warren Tuohey last night said council planners had bent over backwards for a developer who had done a lot of poor jobs.
Another member, Stephen Goodman, said there appeared to be collusion between the council and the developer to force through the unpopular development with minimal community input.
"Is this a case of a conspiracy or bias or simple incompetence within Auckland City?" Mr Goodman said.
Hobson councillor Aaron Bhatnagar sought to delay the hearing, saying it would be more democratic and community-focused to wait until February.
But the head of the council's regulatory arm, Mark Vinall, turned him down, saying the Resource Management Act set out statutory timeframes for the processing of consents "and we endeavour to meet those".
Anne Leijnen, a planning consultant working for the society, said the perceived last-minute rush seemed unnecessary and certainly not in accordance with the spirit of the act.
Mr Tuohey and Mr Goodman were also upset that the council was looking at each part of the development in isolation rather than considering the cumulative effects of the entire project.
City planning manager Penny Pirrit earlier promised an integrated masterplan for the whole area to include transport, land use and ecological issues.
Mr Gapes could not be reached for comment. In August, he said he had made changes to 246 Orakei Rd and was looking at alternative schemes for 228 Orakei Rd to reflect some of the comments of local residents.
