Wider view to Awapuni plans

Plans for the new main entrance to Awapuni Racecourse are connected to the direction of Palmerston North’s likely future urban growth.

City planner David Murphy told a District Plan hearing this week that the location of the new entrance off Grand Oaks Drive would make more sense if land was rezoned for residential growth in Te Wanaka Rd.

The possible new housing area, and development further beyond at City West, would need to have a roading link from Te Wanaka Rd, across the Mangaone Stream and past the racecourse.

The new route would serve traffic travelling from the south of Palmerston North toward Awapuni, and link race training activities at Te Wanaka Rd to the racecourse.

Murphy said if Te Wanaka Rd was rezoned to residential, it would make sense to begin creating the city’s next suburb there, close to existing city services, before moving across Pioneer Highway to City West.

He said planners were thinking 20 to 30 years ahead about the possibilities, and the structure plan for the racecourse included an indicative ‘‘public road network’’ link from Grand Oaks Drive to Te Wanaka Rd.

‘‘It’s the logical place to connect these two parts of the city.

‘‘There are wider benefits of moving the entrance than just for the racecourse.’’

Creation of the new entrance was opposed by Grand Oaks Drive and Doncaster Court residents who made submissions during the hearing.

They were worried about the effects of events traffic being diverted down the quiet neighbourhood cul-de-sac, and for the street to potentially become a significant thoroughfare.

In light of their concerns, planner Keegan Aplin-thane suggested the area opposite Doncaster Court, between eight sections proposed to be subdivided off from the racecourse land, should simply be ‘‘retained for future entry’’.

Councillor commissioner Susan Baty said she was not sure what use of the word ‘‘future’’ did to allay residents’ concerns, apart from suggesting they did not have to worry about it for a while.

Aplin-thane said the benefits of having the new entrance might not be fully realised until the Te Wanaka Rd link was in place.

But even before that happened, it would work better than the current access from Racecourse Rd.

It would make it easier for visitors to the racecourse to find their way, and traffic management plans for events attracting more than 1000 people would keep the streets safer than they were now when overflow parking cluttered the street.

Commissioner Chris Mitchell said he had some sympathy for the residents of the Grand Oaks area, and he had seen nothing in the evidence that would reassure them that ‘‘things won’t get worse’’.

Their sections had been created in an earlier sale of racecourse land to release money for investment in the facility, and the next block of eight sections would also help pay for future improvements.

‘‘Selling off land for highamenity, high-quality residential development does come with a price in that it makes it harder to carry on with business as usual.’’

He said he was not sure there was a middle ground between approving the structure plan with the entrance and road link, or deleting them.

Commissioner Stuart Kinnear said he wanted to have a closer look at the racecourse layout to see if there was another possible location for a link road connecting to the racecourse without directing more traffic into Grand Oaks Drive.

A decision will be released in the New Year.

"Selling off land for high amenity, high quality residential development does come with a price." Chris Mitchell, commissioner