Mall turned down

Press, 28 April 1981, Page 6

Mall turned down

A $2.1 million shopping mall and car-park area, proposed for Division Street in Riccarton. will not go ahead.

The Riccarton • Borough Council. rejected the proposal, from Fletcher Development and Construction, Ltd, at a meeting last evening.

Even though this was the third such application that had been turned. down, the council did not want to be known as a “ho-rio council,” said the Mayor (Mr R. W. J. Harrington). "If Fletcher was to change its plan around it would almost certainly get permission.” Mr Harrington said.

“We are not a no-no council, but we want the best for the residents.”

The chairman of the town planning committee. Mr D. A. Anderson, said the shopping centre would have had a significant effect on residents and land in the area.

The problems with the Fletcher application ■ were that it did not deal adequately with the effect the centre would have, on traffic circulation. .Nor did it integrate with the total scheme. Fletcher ' had planned to develop an area of 7552 sq m and sought a specified departure under section 72 of the Town ahd Country Planning Act. The area concerned, between Division Street and Rotherham Street, was zoned commercial B in Special Development Area 5. At a town planning hearing last month 22 persons and bodies, many of whom were shop-keepers in Riccarton Mall, objected to the proposal. Plans submitted had shown two separate building complexes, one a supermarket and the other a block of four retail shops. “One day it will become a

shopping centre. However, there is that painful transition period when you have residents by a shopping centre,” Mr Anderson said. The' council’s town planning committee found that the Fletcher application had been appropriate but the proposal would have caused visual and environmental deterioration for some residents. ' Residents’ objections about water drainage from the carpark were also valid. Traffic flows would have been affected because only footway access had been available and no vehicle access between the Division Street and Rotherham .Street carpark areas. “The reasons this is being turned down are quite minor. With a little bit of reorganisation of the plan they could come back,” Mr Harrington said. - •

■ Hotel ownership j The council consented to a ) change of ownership for the ’ Chateau Regency Hotel in Deans Avenue. ; The consent permits the I transfer of the property to the Bateman Catering OrI ganisation, Ltd, and the reg- ■ istration of a mortgage back • to the vendor, Trans Hold- ■ ings, Ltd. t' ' • ■ Motels approved ' A nine-unit motel can be built qn Riccarton Road, 3 near Mona Vale Avenue, just ' opposite, the railway line. t The council, approved an application from. Fletcher Development and Construc- , tion, Ltd, to build the motel. ’ This is provided the motel ’ does not detract from the j neighbourhood and suitable , access from Riccarton Road is developed.