Vision Kerikeri outraged by eight-storey building

A Kerikeri action group and other stakeholders are urging residents to help plug the legislative gap that could eventually see other high rise buildings dominate the town.
Kerikeri Serviced Apartments Ltd applied a year ago for Far North District Council consents to build the high rise accommodation building on the corner of Kerikeri and Butler Rds.
The proposed eight-storey building will adjoin a three-storey retail and office block due for construction next year.
The public has until September 28 to lodge objections to the proposal after it was publicly notified early this month.
However, submissions will only be accepted on issues of traffic flow and access as the council's revised proposed district plan contains no height restrictions for Kerikeri's commercial centre.
Mystery surrounds how former transitional plan height restrictions were excluded from the proposed plan. Height restrictions still apply in Paihia, Russell and some other Far North coastal towns - but not Kerikeri.
Council spokesman Rick McCall said similar measures for Kerikeri were not included because no one asked for them, either at draft or submissions stages.
But that answer does not sit well with Vision Kerikeri.
"Why were they taken out (of the transitional plan) in the first place?" asked Vision Kerikeri chairman Rod Brown. He said his group was convened as "a reaction of outrage" at the prospect of the eight-storey building.
The eight-storey building proposal would dominate the currently low-profile skyline and be out of character with the existing townscape, he said.
"But you could build the Twin Towers here in Kerikeri and in terms of the district plan that would be permissible."
Mr Brown described the proposed district plan as "extraordinarily deficient".
Vision Kerikeri is urging residents to attend a public meeting tomorrow night. A strong public response at that meeting and through submissions to the council could lead to height restrictions being introduced by way of future district plan variations.
The meeting would address two key issues, Mr Brown said.
"First, we are seeking to appeal that building. Second, we are seeking to reinstate height restrictions. By chance they are going on in tandem."
The previous height restriction for Kerikeri was 10 metres, or three storeys. The planned eight-storey building will be about 24 metres tall.
*#149; $10,000 to dial up a mandate
A Northland council is paying $10,000 to dial up a mandate on whether building height limits should be added to its not-yet adopted revised proposed district plan.
The Far North District Council chose a telephone survey of 400 people as the best way to gauge public opinion on whether the community wanted building height restrictions in Kerikeri's commercial zone.
The survey, being carried out by market research company Colmar Brunton, was given a $10,000 budget by the council. The results will be available on October 5.
But the phone survey has Vision Kerikeri wondering what is wrong with the usual lines of communication between community and council.
Local stakeholders have already voiced their opinion after being invited by the council, Vision Kerikeri chairman Rod Brown said.
The group, Kerikeri Business Association, Kerikeri Ratepayers Association and individuals have made clear representations to the council in favour of height restrictions going back on the district plan.
That support from a wide and relevant range of community groups should have been mandate enough, Mr Brown said.
"If we don't represent the community, who does? Obviously the council doesn't believe we do, so they're looking for other opinions from these 400 `real' people."
One of the questions on the survey allegedly asks how much in rates the individual would be prepared to pay for a change to the plan.
"It is bringing in the implication of what it could cost to put restrictions on the district plan," Colmar Brunton representative Jennifer Mullan said.
But the question was not loaded or prejudicial, she said
"It is placed late in the questions' order so it doesn't influence how people answered the previous questions."
The council would heed the result of the survey, spokesman Rick McCall said.
"If it comes back saying a good representative section of Kerikeri wants a height restriction then the council will initiate a plan variation proposal."
The ensuing lengthy process would involve submissions, cross submissions, notifications and hearings, and even a totally uncontested passage could take eight months, Mr McCall said.
The phone survey which began a week ago will be finished on September 29. Colmar Brunton would not allow the Northern Advocate to see a copy of the questions, as public exposure of them could influence as-yet unsurveyed people's responses, the company said.
* The survey comprises telephone interviews and a five-minute questionnaire. It has a maximum margin of error of 4.6 percent, and quotas on age, gender and ethnicity to ensure a representative cross-section of the Kerikeri population.