Vote delights anddisappoints
Auckland Council has voted to reject a recommendation that would have allowed more than 750 houses to be built near a coastal settlement and marine reserve.
The decision not to move the northern rural-urban boundary to meet the Okura Estuary was met with elation by residents and disappointment by the developer.
The council’s Governing Body voted to reject the Unitary Plan Independent Hearing Panel’s recommendation to extend the rural urban boundary.
More than 100 development opponents and Okura residents were present when councillors voted 16 to two against moving the boundary.
Long Bay-Okura Great Park Society convenor Chris Bettany says the society is ‘‘elated’’ by the decision.
‘‘The proposed development would have had severe environmental impacts on the Okura Estuary,’’ Bettany says.
‘‘Development would also have spoilt the views and wilderness feeling that one experiences in the Long Bay Regional Park and Okura Bush Scenic Reserve.’’
At the hearing, Albany ward councillor John Watson said the development would have ruined Okura’s pristine environment.
‘‘There’s going to be lots more housing, there’s only one Okura Estuary. Just one. Once that’s gone, it’s gone forever.’’
Todd Property owns the land which could have been developed if the boundary was moved.
The company’s managing director Evan Davies says the decision is disappointing.
He says Todd Property’s plans would have added 55 hectares of parks, reserves and walkways to Long Bay Regional Park and the decision rules public access out.
Davies says development would have helped address Auckland’s housing shortage at no cost to ratepayers.
‘‘We had hoped that the many hearings, mountain of evidence and very clear decisions issued by the Independent Hearings Panel and council officers would have encouraged councillors to arrive at the right and proper decision,’’ Davies says.
In the lead-up to the decision, both the Long Bay Okura Great Park Society and a Todd Property subsidiary, Okura Holdings Limited presented evidence to a hearing panel about the effect moving the boundary would have.