A Hastings District Council planning committee hearing will be held on Friday to consider an application by expanding fuel group Waitomo to establish a "refuelling station" a short distance off the Hawke's Bay Expressway south of Napier.
The Hamilton-based company wants to build the 24-hours self-service station on a corner of Pakowahai and Allen roads, just off the new Pakowhai Rd approach at the eastern side of the roundabout intersection with the Expressway and Links Rd.
The roundabout was part of a major road project completed in March, aligning Pakowhai Rd with Links Rd on the opposite side of the roundabout and eliminating a previous highway crashes black spot around the previously separate intersections.
Waitomo Group's plan has been opposed by neighbours and a planning report recommends the land-use application for a non-complying activity resource consent be declined as non-compliant with the council's Proposed District Plan and the Resource Management Act.
Neighbours are not commenting pending the hearing, but their belief that they and their properties will be adversely affected in several ways is supported by town planners.
"The proposal is a significant departure from the clear and understood policy direction for Plans Production Zone subdivision," a report says.
"As such it is considered that the application will undermine public confidence in and adversely affect the integrity of the District Plan. In addition it will create an adverse precedent effect."
In what it calls "rapid expansion mode", Waitomo has stations throughout the North Island, from Paihia in the Bay of Islands to a newly-opened outlet in Upper Hutt.
One of at least nine companies operating petrol stations in Hawke's Bay, it already has a self-use station in Severn St, Napier, between the Onekawa and Pandora industrial districts.