Published as Issue No. 98
April 9, 2014
As advised in last night’s regular newsletter all the information for this special issue has been provided by the group formed in response to the proposal to build 13 houses on land on the eastern side of Houghton Bay Rd near the beach.
Norman
Many of us know that a Resource Consent Application for an intensive housing development consisting of 13 double level, three and four bedroom houses for 215 Houghton Bay Rd is currently being considered by Wellington City Council. In fact our community has had a couple of meetings with the developer to let them know our reservations with this scheme, some of which are:
- The density of housing is out of character with the area. Is there any other part of Houghton Valley that is the same size as the site at 215 Houghton Bay Rd with 13 houses on it?
- Overflowing drains are already an issue at the bottom of Houghton Bay Rd. Will the sewage and storm-water systems cope with all the extra run-off once most of the vegetation is removed from the steep site which is then re-covered in hard surfaces, like concrete and other non-porous building materials?
- The community wants to reduce run-off into Houghton Bay by lifting the stream. Will the extra run-off from the intensively built subdivision end up on the beach and in the Marine Reserve anyway?
- Parking is an issue because of all the traffic, including buses, that use Houghton Bay Rd from the round-about through to Hungerford Rd. Will leaseholders, tradesmen and visitors to the 13 lot subdivision park on the on the eastern side of the road causing traffic hazards complicated by a bus stop?
- The proposed landscape plan is not realistic. How can introduced plants grow to 10 metres when the present vegetation, which has taken 30 years to grow, doesn’t achieve that height in this harsh environment?
Our main concern is that we, as a community, have not been notified by WCC about this proposal. Why is the community being left out of the resource consent process? Our exclusion means we have no real input into the Council processes deciding whether or not to grant this Resource Consent.
If the applicants can satisfy the formal requirements for this Resource Consent, then Council has the power to approve the application without notifying anyone. Many of us have already made informal submissions to Council and the application has been on hold for more than 12 weeks with no deadline for the applicants to conform to. If we can further show that the applicants’ management of the formal requirements is not adequate, we can inform and influence Council’s decision to publicly notify the application which will give us the opportunity to be part of the resource consent process.
After serious consideration we decided to get a legal assessment of the proposal and our lawyer will soon make a submission to Council disclosing major issues and problems with the Resource Consent Application.
If Council chooses to ignore these legitimate matters and the Resource Consent Application is approved without notification, we can then ask for a Judicial Review of their decision. It is likely Council’s decision would be overturned and the Resource Consent Application would then be notified. The community can then be included in the notified resource consent process.
To proceed to the Judicial Review stage we first need to form an Incorporated Society. You don’t need to be a home owner or live in the direct area, but if you care about the environment here and if you support the steps we are taking and would like to discuss being part of this Incorporated Society please contact us.
Your involvement is important. If we work together as a community we can get this RCA notified.