By GREGG WYCHERLEY
A long battle by residents to stop the building of a 30m-high apartment block on the railyards site in Parnell may soon be over.
The Dilworth Terrace Apartment Body Corporate, which includes Justice Ted Thomas of the Court of Appeal, failed to have the resource consent for 88 The Strand overturned in both the High Court and the Court of Appeal.
Now the future of the project, which has the backing of investor John Fernyhough, rests with a council-appointed independent commission.
The Dilworth Terrace group said the two-tower, 112-apartment complex did not suit the area and should have been subject to publicly notified consent because it was 15m higher than the city plan allowed.
Auckland City Council spokeswoman Marilyn Dodds said the developer, Southern Trading Company, was granted consent in August 1997 for a 242-apartment building, which was later modified to the present design.
Southern Trading chief executive Greg Kernohan said both applications were non-notified but the company also applied for notified consent in case the residents' court action was successful.
The publicly notified consent attracted more than 450 objections from residents, but early this year the High Court and Appeal Court overturned the application for judicial review of the non-notified consent.
Although the application was dismissed, the Court of Appeal found an error in a council report relating to an extension of the resource consent, which was due to lapse because of delays caused by the court cases.
The court set the extension application aside but allowed the council to review the application.
An independent commission was appointed and will this week decide whether to grant the developer a resource consent extension, effectively ending the residents' battle.
Mr Kernohan said that if the commission approved the extension, construction of the $40 million project would begin in about four weeks and should be completed early next year.
He said that about 25 per cent of the luxury apartments - which range in price from $150,000 to more than $1 million - had been pre-sold.
Ms Dodds said the council was considering changing the city plan to restrict future development in the former railyards precinct.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
Latest from Property
Wellington's $1m lighthouse folly: Local family beats expats, retired fisherman
Iconic property is one of the capital's most popular B&Bs.