Development plans concern residents
Lynfield residents are anxious about plans for the building of a large retirement village.
Ryman Healthcare is awaiting a resource consent application for the construction of a village on their 8.9 hectare Auckland farm at 20 Tropicana Drive.
The land was bought by Ryman in July 2014 and is one of the largest undeveloped blocks of residential land in Auckland.
Halsey Drive resident Peter Coddington, whose back view looks across to the property, says the residents’ main concern is the height at which Ryman wish to construct the village.
He says project plans state buildings will go as high as six floors, a clear breach of the council’s permitted height of 8 metres in the properties’ residential zoning. ’’At one point their admin block is 11 metres over that eight so that’s not insubstantial, it’s quite a major difference to height.’’
Coddington says it appears Ryman is asking to have dispensation to go over and above the height prescribed in the zoning rule as currently applies to the land.
‘‘Now I think what we are saying here to council is apply your zoning restrictions, because if you do that the height of the building will not be as imposing, and that’s probably the number one thing, is going over and above the height.’’
Ryman corporate affairs manager David King says buildings across the site ranges in height.
‘‘Which is why the council has notified the project to consider the effects of the proposal overall.’’
Ryman also plan to clear some of the protected Wairaki Stream Reserve at the base of the property.
King says a ‘‘small area’’ of trees will need to be removed.
‘‘We have commissioned an arborist to assess the tree removal and he has advised the trees to be removed are low quality and the area was overrun with invasive weeds. It is important to note this is a small percentage of the trees on site and we are proposing an extensive tree replacement programme in addition to significant landscaping work.’’
Forest and Bird regional manager Nick Beveridge says the res- erve is a Significant Ecological Area as declared by council.
‘‘The proposal is actually encroaching on to some of the significant ecological area as identified in the Auckland Unitary Plan.’’ Submissions are open for resource consent and close on October 4.