"The proposal is in line with the St Lukes Concept Plan, which was developed following extensive public consultation.
"The proposal will have a height and separation distance to neighbouring properties that will avoid dominance, amenity or shadowing effects for neighbours.
"It also considers all traffic aspects and does not anticipate additional parking demands on surrounding roads," she said.
Independent commissioners have been appointed to decide the outcome of the resource consent application.
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Yesterday, one resident of Aroha Ave - the quiet, leafy residential street just a block from the mall - told the Herald she was appalled to read the committee documents after the Herald told her about Scentre's plans.
Elaine Gallagher fears traffic effects on her quiet street, which Scentre hopes will become one of the entranceways into the mall.
The shopping centre's expansion would be mostly to the north, where Aroha Ave lies.
Gallagher said residents had not agreed to the huge traffic increase being cited in a council document, which said: "Throughout the review of the stage 4/5 development, flow has focussed on how the applicant can manage the level of traffic on Aroha Ave given the challenges highlighted ... The level of traffic on Aroha Ave which the immediate residents have accepted as being satisfactory was determined through Plan Modification 8.
"The flows that the residents are understood to be satisfied with are 258 vehicles per hour during the weekday evening peak and 325vph during the Saturday midday peak," the document said.
"These volumes represent an increase in traffic from some 200 vehicles per hour and 165 vehicles per hour for the respective weekday and weekend periods."
Gallagher said the traffic effects could be horrendous and there had been no agreement.
"Obviously our attention always focuses on the impact on ourselves first, however I was horrified to read this in the document," she said.
Tracey Grant, the council's senior resource consent project manager, had recommended that Scentre's application to expand the mall from 4ha of floor space to 7.7ha be non-notified.
Shopping centres on rise
Demand for more retail space and increasing spending is driving shopping centre growth in Auckland.
John Pokinghorne, associate director of retail specialist business RCG, said the sector was expanding rapidly.
"Auckland retail is growing at pace. According to Statistics NZ's Retail Trade Survey, it has beaten national level growth for the last seven quarters in a row. I expect this to continue, given that Auckland is getting the lion's share of population growth, as well as new shopping centres opening."
The survey data goes up to the end of September only, so the new Northwest Shopping Centre doesn't show up in the figures yet.
Total retail sales in New Zealand are $59.9 billion annually, up 5.9 per cent on the previous year, he said.
"Auckland makes up 36.7 per cent of nationwide retail sales, and accounted for 60.3 per cent of the growth in nationwide retail sales in the last year. So if you looked at sales for the rest of New Zealand, they would be much flatter.
He cited major retail expansions including the NorthWest at West-gate, The Brickworks at LynnMall and Zone 7, also at Westgate where 25,500sq m of new retail space which will open early next year and the first stage of the new Ormiston Town Centre.
Mall versus neighbours
• Owner Scentre wants to increase the size of St Lukes from just over five football
fields to 11.
• Its resource consent will be heard non-notified, which means the public cannot make submissions.
• Neighbours were told they would get a say when the council approved an earlier plan change allowing the expansion.
See the decision here:
