Hokowhitu subdivision plans all go

The Manawatu¯ Golf Club has struck a deal with property developers that could clear the way for a housing development at the former Massey University Hokowhitu campus in Palmerston North.

A commissioners’ hearing resumed yesterday after the 125-year-old golf club’s objections to rezoning the land from institutional to residential were withdrawn.

Wallace Development plans to create up to 130 sections for housing in the 10-hectare block, including multi-unit housing such as two- to three-storey apartments, on the site opposite the Hokowhitu Lagoon.

The golf club was a key objector. It was worried people living in homes built on its boundary would complain about stray golf balls and the noise of golf club activities.

Club general manager Warren Collett wrote to the commissioners on April 20 to say an agreement in principle with the developers meant the club was happy for the proposed rezoning to go ahead.

One of the changes from the plan as first published was that sections on the golf club boundary would be larger than required in the balance of the subdivision, to reduce the potential number of neighbours.

The off-stage agreement included plans to install barriers near a couple of tees and reangling the 12th and 15th holes to reduce the risk of stray golf balls slicing into people’s backyards.

Until those measures were in place, city council planner Michael Duindam had proposed that properties on the boundary should have 2-metre-high fences to keep out high-velocity stray golf balls, and that outdoor areas such as decks and barbecue areas should have roofs.

With the resolved, a key focus on the final day was about the visual impact of housing on Centennial Drive.

Submitter Dick Earle pleaded for a 20m-wide verge of grass and trees to be retained between the road and property boundaries to preserve the pleasant nature of the drive.

Landscape architect Brad Coombs said there would be a roadside reserve of 4 to 5m, with buildings set back another 6m.

Fences facing the street would be only 1.1m tall, set back 1m from the boundary, with low shrubs or hedges planted in front.

Each property would also have to plant a specimen tree and there would be no vehicle access to properties off Centennial Drive.

Palmerston North deputy mayor Tangi Utikere, acting as one of the commissioners, said he was still concerned about the amount of flexibility the plan change granted.

In particular, a subdivision application would not have to be publicly advertised so long as it was in general accordance with a structure plan that laid out the likely roading plan and boundaries for reserves.

One of those reserves, the Ruahine Reserve, would protect a grove of memorial trees and a wahi tapu site significant to Rangita¯ne. The Relay for Life kauri tree would be protected, but would probably be on private property.

Developer Jonathan Wallace said the time since the hearing adjourned in November had been useful, particularly for reaching an agreement with the golf club. He said if commissioners agreed, the company would develop a topclass subdivision that would serve the city well, and would in time do something about the current negative features of the site, such as the eight-storey tower block and large car parks.

A decision is expected in about a month.