KEY POINTS:
A child will be run over and killed if an apartment development goes ahead on the already busy Orakei Rd, says a leading opponent of the project.
Orakei Residents' Society president Warren Tuohey was responding to a planner's report pooh-poohing residents' concerns about traffic chaos and recommending the
project go ahead.
Consultant planner Michele Perwick has reviewed revised plans from developer Tony Gapes to build 146 apartments at 228 Orakei Rd and concluded the cumulative effects would be no more than minor.
Her report, commissioned by Auckland City Council, has recommended the development be granted resource consent.
Mr Tuohey said the increased traffic generated from 228 Orakei Rd, another project by Mr Gapes for 42 apartments at 246 Orakei Rd and a park and ride facility at Orakei railway station with 196 carparks was a recipe for disaster.
"I only hope the traffic engineers are there to scrape up some poor lifeless child off the road because that is what is going to happen," he said.
Turning right out of the Kings Plant Barn into a busy stream of traffic on Orakei Rd with a short view on the northern side with traffic coming over the little railway bridge was bad enough now, he said.
"You are turning right. You look right, you look left and by the time you are in there, the car doing 50km/h has hit you."
In her report, Michele Perwick believed opponents' concerns were overstated. The development would potentially generate between 696 and 891 extra traffic movements along Orakei Rd. But after reviewing Mr Gapes' traffic reports and considering a separate, expert review she was satisfied any adverse traffic, access and parking effects would be minor.
"Congestion is a fact of life but it is not practical to suggest that development of this site, or elsewhere, should be prevented simply because it could add to the existing congestion level," she said.
Transport expert Mairi Joyce said delays of up to two minutes exiting the development were acceptable and no changes to the road layout were necessary.
The development of 146 apartments, mostly of one and two bedrooms, in five blocks, and 295 carparks, goes to a planning hearing next Monday before three independent commissioners.
Mr Gapes has already scaled back his original plans for 203 apartments and 346 carparks on the water's edge in response to the opposition.
That proposal attracted 554 submissions, of which 519 were opposed.
Mr Tuohey said residents had asked the council and had been promised a master plan for the Orakei headland on prime coastal land just five minutes from downtown Auckland, but nothing had eventuated.
City planning manager Penny Pirrit said the master plan had not progressed beyond initial discussions with Mr Gapes' Redwood Group around issues and principles. Talks were back on and something could be concluded in February.
Ms Pirrit agreed it would be better to develop a master plan before any development took place but said the law allowed people to seek resource consent on their land and Redwood was doing that.
* Tomorrow: The archaeological and geological case at Orakei.
