Parklands flats plans deferred

Press, 5 March 1987, Page 9

Parklands flats plans deferred

Immediate plans to build 18 flats for elderly people in Parklands have been dropped by the Waimairi District Council.

Public opposition to the siting and appearance of the flats prompted the community affairs committee to think again about the scheme. The 18 units were to have been built in three blocks on three sections in Queenspark Drive. The two-storey buildings would have contained a total of 11 two-person flats and seven single-person flats. The flats would have

been subject to a planning application.

The committee’s investigating sub-committee had been told that residents at a public meeting in Parklands were concerned about the complex’s design and finished appearance. Residential property owners in the area were bound by a developer’s covenant in relation to the style and materials used on houses. The council’s plans for the flats did not take this into account.

Residents said they did not dispute the need for

the units. The possibility of using surplus Education Department land and building fewer units was discussed by the sub-committee. The District Engineer, Mr John Lamb, said staff had started with plans to build just four units on the site. The original plans would not have attracted a subsidy from the Housing Corporation and so units were added until the cost of land per unit came within the guidelines for a subsidy. The District Chairman, Mrs Margaret Murray,

said it did not reflect well on the council when the community did not like something which had been designed by the council.

She did not agree with a suggestion that fewer units could be built on the site and subsidised by the council, rather than the Housing Corporation. “Housing for the elderly has to be self-funded. Costs must be met with Government support and not by a ratepayer subsidy.”

She said the council should ask the member of

Parliament for Avon, Mrs Mary Batchelor, to seek a higher subsidy so that fewer units could be built on the site.

The District Clerk, Mr Peter Chapple, said the Housing Corporation had indicated it would consider a fresh application with fewer units. The chairman of the committee, Cr David Buist, said the rethink of the complex could cause a year’s delay in its construction. “But it is better than making a big mistake now,” he said.