KEY POINTS:
A grassy hillside between some of Orewa's finest homes and the rest of the seaside town has been chosen as the site for a retirement village with 400 residents.
Retirement village operator Ryman Healthcare, a public company, says it's delighted to have bought the 4.8ha site with "panoramic views over the township and Whangaparaoa Bay and within walking distance of the main shopping centre".
But the thought of seeing 17 buildings up to five storeys high springing up in the foreground of their ocean views has stirred 25 home owners to fight the firm's plans for its "blue-chip location".
Gordon and Margaret Miller built their home six years ago in a new development where streets are named after famous hotels, such as the Ritz, Ambassador, Grovenor and Grand.
Mr Miller said he and his neighbours on the hill had invested $20 million in their properties thinking the vacant site below was restrained by the district plan from being used for buildings higher than three levels.
"Now these Ryman people have come in asking for consent to build to 15m, or five levels," said Mr Miller.
"The previous owner, Cabra Developments, was turned down by the Rodney District Council when it wanted consent to go to four levels. So Ryman knew this when they bought this land.
"It's a quirk of town planning that if you buy a large piece of land you can ask for variations of the resource consent rules - which is fair enough if you are developing on land where there is little or no building around you.
"But this is dead centre of Orewa with mega-million dollars of property already built on the understanding that district plan rules would be in place.
"We are also concerned about the additional infrastructure demands ... as another retirement village is built."
Orewa, with about 5000 residents, already has 930 beds for the elderly, 840 of which are in village lodging.
Another firm, Private Life Care of New Zealand, is building 71 new apartments overlooking a golf course as part of developing its Hibiscus Coast Village, which has 150 units.
Maygrove Village has 190 units and a 50-room hospital.
The 2006 Census showed 14.9 per cent of people in Rodney District were aged 65 years and over, compared with a 12.3 per cent figure for all of the country.
Mr Miller said the residents' group was making a joint submission to the council's hearing of the Ryman consent early next month.
The company, which named its village in Abbotts Way, Remuera, after Sir Edmund Hillary, proposes to build 231 apartments for independent living, 47 serviced apartments and 60 long-stay care rooms in 17 different buildings, plus a bowling green and croquet lawn.
A planning consultant's report to the council said the proposed village provides for 407 residents, which is 10 per cent more people than the previous land owner had gained consent for.
However, due to the less intensive nature of a retirement village, in terms of effects such as noise and traffic generation, the effects of the Ryman proposal were likely to be similar to, or less than, the former development.
The report also said an effort was made to ensure that the building layout and form complemented the existing homes by placing one- and two-level units on the boundary separated by generous side yards.
Apartment buildings would be sited along West Hoe Rd and building heights would vary from 4.8m to 15.6m, with five buildings infringing the district plan height limit of 9m.
The report said the location of the village within an existing population centre helped to avoid "displacement of residents from their existing communities when they become more dependent, requiring an increased level of care".
