Special centre approved

Press, 5 August 1983, Page 5

Special centre approved

A Burwood special needs centre for physically and intellectually handicapped children has been approved in a Christchurch City Council planning decision.

The centre — sought by the Society for the Intellectually Handicapped — will be built at 71 Vivian Street on a 2500 sq m site in a residential zone. It will be the first such unit in New Zealand, and will provide short-term residential care for up to eight children, with sleeping facilities for one parent.

It will also be a day care facility for up to 12 children, to provide individual training programmes and day relief for parents. Both services will be in a 430 sq m, single-storey building. The centre will house a group that is now in overcrowded conditions in rooms provided by Burwood Hospital. The planning decision noted that the large site area provided an opportunity for a well-planned building which was not out of scale within the residential

neighbourhood. Although the District Scheme made no specific provision for such a centre, the decision said that the application represented an exceptional case. There was a growing need to provide alternative care for handicapped children. Nine off-street car-park-ing spaces will be provided on the site, with a covered set-down point for taxis. Shed A proposed Panorama Road shed for storing hay and implements was too

close to the adjoining property in a Residential Hills zone.

Approval in 1980 for a similar building 20m from the property boundary, instead of the 6.5 m under the present proposal, could be reinstated, but the shed planned could now mean a significant degree of intrusion for the property immediately east of the site.

There was little doubt that the proposed building would have to be removed in future when residential development occurred.