Kensington Park neighbours not good friends

Pat Coll and her husband have lived at Ngahere Views in Orewa for 25 years. In that time they've had all kinds of neighbours but one, in particular, has them fuming.

Pat's tenants' house is right on the boundary of Kensington Park development. She subdivided her property several years ago and believes all three houses on this seaward-facing piece of land are steadily dropping in value.

"It's very, very stressful and we can't just move off and live somewhere else. When people come and visit they can't believe what it's like," she says, gesturing to a building site just beyond the lawn and the row of apartment blocks marching up the hill.

The issue that drove Pat, and her neighbours the Connors, to contact The Aucklander is the large pile of dirt that appeared below their homes before Christmas. "When the trucks are going and the easterly wind is coming across we get dirt all through the house," says Pat. "The pile should be covered and regularly dampened down."

She's tired of the machinery noise six days a week and the way the site manager has brushed off her concerns.

"When I complained just yesterday I was basically told to suck it up. It's going to go on for years and we've tried to fight it, all putting in a huge amount of effort.

"Now Kensington have gone to the Environment Court and none of us can afford to fight them. One of Kensington's mottos is 'Where neighbours become good friends', which is just the most laughable thing I've heard. There's no care at all for us."

Last year Kensington Park Holdings applied for a private plan change on the 15ha site seeking re-zoning to increase the possible number of households and allow for five-storey buildings.

Mrs Coll, her neighbours and dozens of others, devoted hours to opposing the change which was granted in part (see panel).

Mrs Coll's neighbour, Francis Connors, says he asked the site manager about the 12m dirt pile when it first appeared and was told it would only be there for a week or two.

"But it's only getting bigger. We've just had enough of it"

Kensington Park development manager Mark Peldmanis says construction work recently stepped up at the site because a large number of properties were being sold.

"There is a big phase this year and it's the co-ordination of the dirt which is the tricky part."

He says wet weather delayed work on the pile but the plan is to move it down the hill and flatten it.

"The pile is being worked on so it's not practical to cover it with a tarpaulin, but around the area there are temporary roads and, on dry days, these are wet down in order to minimise dust."

Mr Peldmanis says the contractors try to minimise dusty work in easterly winds. He says the work is fully consented and Auckland Council officers are satisfied with the site.

Construction is expected to last another five years.

Julie Bevan, Auckland Council's manager for northern consenting and compliance, says over the past year her team has received six complaints about dust.

"We have been in regular contact with the developer about the complaints as they have an obligation under their consent conditions to control the dust levels. The council has requested the developer use a water truck to water down the haul roads to deal with this issue."

She says staff will carry out regular inspections to ensure resource consent conditions are being met.

TIMELINE

2006 - Developer Patrick Fontein's Kensington Park Properties (KPP) buys site for $38 million.

2008 - KPP goes into in receivership.

2009 - Property investor-developer John Sax buys site from receivers.

April 2011 - Hearing for private plan change sought by Kensington Park Holdings. Around 115 submissions, 80 per cent in opposition.

October 2011 - Independent commissioners rule on several changes to plans including reducing eight apartment blocks from five to four storeys.

December 2011 - Kensington Park Holdings goes to Environment Court to appeal decision to reduce building heights and site density.

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