There has been a lot of neighbourhood activity recently around a proposed development at 78 Orakei Road, where a reported 172 year old house is to be demolished to make way for 19 townhouses.
A developer’s Resource Consent application (25 March 2020) at 78 Orakei Road for 19 units on a 2,524m2 site will see the current lovely old 2-storied house beside Waiata Reserve bowled. How 19 units have been configured onto this land (at a mere 132m2 per unit) is remarkable, and the design comes at the expense of practical traffic movement.
The application has not triggered notification of any affected parties – because apparently all effects are “less than minor”. The land is zoned “Residential – Mixed Housing Suburban” that limits building heights generally to two-stories only.
The traffic related issues we believe are major and the RRA have submitted on this to get some form of notification. The Unitary Plan has traffic standards that relate to this zoning, and approval is required to depart from those standards.
Five areas exist for traffic non-compliance. Size and location of parking spaces: Only the minimum of 19 is provided – one per unit. No allowance has been made for visitor or drop off parking spaces. Some parking spaces have less than the standard manoeuvring depth for 3-point turns and do not comply. Orakei Road is an arterial road and vehicle access restrictions apply – entrance to the site on a one lane driveway creates hazards. Driveway width is only 3.5m not the standard 5.5m to serve 19 spaces. The gradient of the 50m long narrow driveway exceeds the standard. No passing bays. If this development is built and if the units do sell, the owners are in for a very difficult time as far as traffic and transport.
Under the Unitary Plan developers are favoured in residential areas, and consent to develop a project is likely to be granted without notification.
The Ōrākei Local Board is currently considering procedural issues associated with non-notification for 78 Orakei Road.
Further Reading:
Assessment of Environmental Effects (AEE) – 78 Orakei Road – 22-03-2020 FINAL
Heritage under the Auckland Unitary Plan
Submission for Consideration – Resource Consent Application 78 Orakei Rd (RRA)