'No reason to withhold mall permit’

Press, 28 August 1978, Page 4

' No reason to withhold mall permit’

The Christchurch City Council granted a building permit for the mall development at Merivale by G.U.S. Properties, Ltd, because there was no legal reason for withholding one, councillors have been told.

The company had applied for a permit, and it had met all building by-law and zoning ordinance requirements. Many councillors were still not happy with the proposed mall this week, but said that there was nothing they could do about it. Cr Mollie Clark said that there was "a threshold scale when redevelopment becomes a matter of public concern, and this is it.” The district scheme should be changed to keep this from happening again. There was a “serious defect” in a scheme which

would allow such a project to go ahead as of right, said Cr D. C. Close. The council had been "caught unawares” by the project’s size and probable effect on Merivale, said Cr D. F. Caygill. He did not think that parking should be even a conditional use in residential areas next to commercial zones; it should be subject to specified departure proceedings. Traffic problems created by the mall would be serious, particularly in Aiktnans Road and Office Road; and Papanui Road was already “virtually impossible and impassable at the moment,” Cr Caygill said.

Cr N. G. Hattaway said that Merivale was at least fortunate that the mall was being designed by an architect sensitive to community needs.