Fendalton Road back in limelight

Press, 19 July 1988, Page 5

Fendalton Road back in limelight

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After years of debate and public controversy, plans for the widening of Fendalton Road came before a Planning Tribunal hearing yesterday. The Waimairi District Council was last year forced to put on hold its plans to widen the part of the road between the Main North railway line and Clyde Road, because of an appeal to the Planning Tribunal by the Association of Fendalton Residents. The association objected to the council’s decision, to widen the road to the full 30m designation.

The hearing began yes-

terday before Judge Treadwell (chairman), Mrs Nedra Johnson and Mrs Molly Clark, and is likely to last six days. After slipping out of the limelight for some years, the proposal to widen the road kindled public interest in 1985 when the council announced an estimated cost for the work and the number of property frontages which would be affected.

Council staff thought the road needed to be improved so that it was efficient and safe to drive on.”

The numerous widening options which followed were the subject of much debate and public hear-

ings until last July the council decided that option four, a four-lane road with a median strip, would be constructed.

Mr Tony Hearn, for the council, told the Planning Tribunal that the proposal to widen the road was not a new one, but was a stage in a long-term plan making provision for both the present and the future.

“This section of the road represents an ongoing and continuing stage of development.” He said that very few people with property frontages on to this section of Fendalton Road were there before the widening proposal was first made public. . “Indeed, many of the present owners purchased in the full knowledge of the proposed widening and having made their plans on that footing, as will be obvious on a site inspection.”

Provision had been made in the council’s District Scheme for the widening of the road since

the first scheme was notified in 1961, said Mr Hearn. As long ago as 1949, the road was the subject of a report to consider widening and in 1957 the then Christchurch Regional Planning Authority recommended that the whole of . the route to Christchurch Airport be planned for eventual development as a divided carriageway. The completion of road widening between Harper Avenue and the railway line was completed by 1975.

Mr Hearn said he believed that the residents’ association accepted the general need to upgrade Fendalton Road and the only real issue was how the upgrading could be best achieved.

It has been suggested that the widening of the road with a median strip will divide the community of Fendalton, but a sociologist will present evidence on behalf of the council saying that any communal spirit which does exist is not likely to

be any more disrupted by a median strip than by any other development option.

Mr Hearn said that some residents were also concerned about the effect of road-widening on significant trees and other landscaping. “In my submission, some very extravagant and inaccurate claims have been made as to the number of trees which will require to be removed, the effect of the proposal on character, and the real difference between present and proposed.”

Mr Hearn said that the benefits of a median strip would become more marked as traffic volumes rose and small disturbances in the traffic stream became more critical.

“A tree can be looked on as an amenity. Some trees will be lost. The safe and efficient movement of people and vehicles is an amenity and a good deal will be gained for the benefit of the whole com-

munity and every individual in it.” The Waimairi District Council’s planner, Mr David Hinman, said the council had given “proper weight” to the environmental and other concerns that had been expressed as well as traffic considerations. He was satisfied the designation should be confirmed so that detailed planning based on option four could proceed and work be done.

Residential, industrial and airport growth in the north-western sector of Christchurch had all contributed to traffic increases on Memorial Avenue and Fendalton Road. These developments had led to the conclusion that the upgrading of part of Fendalton Road between the railway and Clyde Road was necessary.

“I have to say that I do not believe there is any other suitable, or indeed logical, route which could now be selected as the main link between the

airport and the city.” The council was making efforts to ensure that “local environmental loss” to property owners affected by the widening was minimised both through property purchase negotiations and in the detailed roading design as it affected individual properties.

The council has so far completed land purchases from 41 of the 107 properties affected by the widening requirement. There are about 14 properties where the house is 2m or less from the widening line and in these cases, the council will buy the entire property if asked, on the condition that the owners have attempted to sell it on the open market for six months.

In addressing the likely social impacts of the road-widening, Mr Hinman said that the only significant disruption would probably occur during the construction phase. Suggestions for lessening this had been provided.