KEY POINTS:
Greytown is somewhere that time forgot, which is why it is so popular.
Now the Wairarapa town's tree-shaded main street and its collection of Victorian and Edwardian buildings are the site of a battle between heritage enthusiasts wanting to preserve the past and developers wanting to cash in
on the strong economy.
The first heyday of Greytown, this country's first planned inland settlement, came to an end at the turn of the 19th century. When the railroad passed it by, Greytown became almost invisible on the drive to Masterton.
With little development over the intervening decades, Greytown did not have its old buildings and trees removed, giving it a charm and sense of history that entice thousands of weekenders across the Rimutaka ranges.
Having stood still for 100 years, 21st century Greytown has come alive; its streets are filled with out-of-towners either staying in their holiday homes or the many bed-and-breakfasts.
The old buildings have been revitalised and augmented by developments such as the White Swan Hotel, originally a Railways building in Lower Hutt. Shifted to the town in six pieces in 2002, it has been converted into a boutique hotel and restaurant.
However, alarm bells about Greytown's rapid growth are ringing almost as loudly as the tills in the many cafes and boutique shops that have opened in the past five years.
A heritage lobby wants to have the town plan changed to extend the historic precinct to cover all the main street. Eighty-five locals aired their concerns at a public meeting last week.
Last November, three century-old cottages were removed within weeks of one another, fuelling fears the town's history was being strip-mined.
One of those cottages was across the road from architects Malcolm Fleming and Gina Jones, who have appealed against a consent granted to Golden Homes for a retail site to be built on the land. That move has effectively placed an injunction on development and sparked a more widespread community debate on heritage issues.
"If we're not careful, everything that's great about Greytown will be gone," Mr Fleming said. "This is not just a Greytown issue, it's a whole of New Zealand issue."
Mr Fleming is not anti-development or anti-modern architecture, having designed several modern buildings in Greytown and elsewhere in the Wairarapa.
"We've been drawn to Greytown for the intrinsic qualities: the beautiful mature trees and the heritage buildings. That's pretty much the Greytown DNA, if you like," Mr Fleming said.
"Our group is very much interested in Main Street and looking to try and put some controls in place in terms of the type of development that gets undertaken. It's not anti-new work, new buildings, it's just ensuring they are designed to reference the streetscape and the environment that the main street is.
"They don't necessarily have to be old, cutesy sort of houses or anything. They have just got to be referencing the site and the town."
A spokesman for Gillies Construction, the firm behind the Golden Homes development, said it wanted to put its side of the story, but it failed to comment by deadline.
With an estimated quarter of Greytown's 1200 houses believed to be owned by non-permanent residents, an underlying divide exists between those born there and newcomers looking for the good life.
The one thing that does unite them, though, is they don't want the town to lose its character.
Commercial pressures to develop are growing, but where and how is the issue. With the town bounded on one side by the Waiohine River and building restricted by the state highway running through the centre, little free land is available to meet huge demand for commercial properties.
Kevin Lyford, a Greytown ward member of the South Wairarapa District Council, says finding a balance between new money and old residents is a challenge. A recently built brick house amid Greytown's wooden splendour had raised hackles and would-be developers were "getting a bit of a rev up" from locals.
"I think most people who come to Greytown realise that it shouldn't be changed too much," Mr Lyford said.
"Most people like it because of that old world feel. You are always going to have people who come in and change things and people who don't want that, but I think people need to talk. Greytown was a ghost town 20 years ago and, if it hadn't been for some of the newer people, might have died."
