Road to ruin, residents fed up
A resident in Hamilton’s booming northeast is calling for a stop to all housing development in her neighbourhood until council can fix their road.
Donna Gifford says residents along North Ridge Drive have endured ongoing roadworks since March last year.
On some mornings it can take Gifford more than 15 minutes to get out of her driveway, negotiating traffic cones, heavy machinery and road workers.
The once quiet country lane now resembles a dirt track. The roadworks have caused wear and tear to residents’ vehicles, and heavy vehicles have damaged letterboxes on several occasions, Gifford said.
Frustrated residents have started contacting city councillors in the hope they can advocate for the small community located a short drive north of the Rototuna Shopping Centre.
‘‘I want to see all building work stop immediately until everyone, the developers and the council, can agree on what they’re doing, because the road is a mess,’’ Gifford said.
‘‘Every time you question someone about the road and ask when it will be fixed, you’re told that everything will be sorted in two or three weeks. They were telling us that back in July last year.’’
Hamilton City Council began a $2 million upgrade of the road in March, just before the alert level 4 lockdown. The project will transform North Ridge Drive from a country road to an urban street, complete with footpaths, street lighting, parking bays and kerbs.
The road upgrade was expected to be completed by June but has now been revised to finish in August. Prior to the roading upgrade, council installed some stormwater and wastewater services and developers installed power, gas, fibre, water and the remaining stormwater and wastewater services.
Council capital projects manager Nick Murphy said the services needed to be done first to ensure that, when the council undertook the roading upgrade, there was less chance the road would need to be dug up again.
Pragma Homes is building houses along North Ridge Drive and in 2019 had to dig up a section of the road to transfer a water line across the road.
Operations manager Elliot Donaldson said multiple housing companies are working on projects along North Ridge Drive and may have had to impact the road at different times.
‘‘What’s happening in that neighbourhood at the moment is nothing to do with us,’’ Donaldson said.
‘‘All those roadworks and the mess and everything that’s going on there with the road being dug, and all the big machinery, again, nothing to do with us at all.’’
Murphy said the council is working as fast as it can to complete the roading upgrade. The council is also working on a stormwater treatment wetland which is due to be finished in June.
Grant Kettle, council planning guidance unit manager, said the council has had conversations with developers operating on North Ridge Drive to ensure they are managing their sites appropriately and are adhering to their resource consent conditions. Any complaints from residents regarding developers will be followed up quickly, Kettle said.
Gifford said residents’ concerns predate the council’s upgrade of North Ridge Drive, and alleges developers have been given carte blanche to do what they want to the road.
She previously owned an 11-metre motorhome but was unable to get it out of her driveway due to the road being dug up.
‘‘I don’t want to be a complainer, I just want to see a bit of progress.’’