Opposition to Eversley Care Home expansion heard by Hastings council panel

An architect's impression of the proposed Eversley Care Home expansion, as seen from Kitchener St.

A resident has described the proposed extension to Eversley Care Home in Hastings as an institution-style complex and "a battery farm for the elderly designed to maximise profits" at a hearing held at the Hastings District Council.

Oceania Healthcare Ltd is seeking resource consent to develop an additional 59-room, two-storey complex on two sites next to its 50-bed home on the corner of Nelson St and Cornwall Rd.

The application said the effects of the development, which would have 25 carparks, would be minor and was generally consistent with the proposed district plan.

This was despite it not meeting several zoning requirements in terms of building height, height in relation to boundary, building coverage of the site, setbacks from the boundaries, transport and parking.

Oceania development manager Eli Parkin told yesterday's hearing that DHB forecasts showed the number of aged care residents in the region would increase from 1307 last year to 1810 in 2027, and that 536 extra beds would be needed in the next 10 years.

Eversley was an aged care facility, and the extension would include hospital facilities to give residents a continuum of care on site, as well as community facilities such as a cafe, dining and lounge areas and treatment and therapy rooms.

"We try to create buildings that feel like high-end residential homes, moving away from the institutional feel of the past."

He said it was important that the building fitted in with its surroundings, and that Oceania considered the way it had been designed would enhance the area's character.

Boffa Miskell landscape architect Rachel de Lambert said that although the site overlapped Hastings city living zone and Hastings character residential zone, and so was non-compliant, any adverse effects had been mitigated.

She said the building was set back from the street to allow for gardens, and the materials, colour, gabled roof and modulated architecture helped it fit in.

Twelve neighbours lodged submissions, 11 against the proposal, concerned about privacy, shade, traffic and parking.

Project architect Neil Fenwick said the site was going to be developed at some point in the future, with either one or two storey buildings giving rise to the same issues, and the roads between the facility and people's houses helped mitigate privacy concerns.

He said a significant number of shadow studies had also been undertaken.

Traffic engineer Ian Constable said the roading network could easily handle extra traffic, that access to the facility would be safe, and that there was capacity for more carparks.

Submitter Bill Duthie countered that traffic surveys were done in winter, not summer when the area was busiest with activity at Cornwall Park.

The Kitchener St resident said his privacy would be compromised by the rooms on the second floor that had balconies. He also said the development offered limited outdoor areas for residents.

"The isolation and loneliness for these people being stuck on their own in their rooms is untenable.

"This proposal is a battery farm for the elderly to maximise profits, a monument to corporate greed."

Nelson St resident Penny Reid said the building would overlook her front yard, which her family used extensively most of the year.

"I can see there is a need for the home but the building will be in our faces."

The hearings committee of Hastings councillor George Lyons, Peter Kay and Hastings councillor Rod Heaps would consider the application today.