Luxury tower to lose land for road

By BERNARD ORSMAN

The residents of a luxury Parnell apartment tower are being asked to hand over some land while the $2.5 billion eastern highway is being built.

John Wrightson, chairman of the Mirage apartment body corporate, said consultants had told him some Mirage land would be needed for a temporary bridge while a replacement Gladstone Rd bridge was built.

Mr Wrightson said he learned about the need to use some Mirage land only after contacting Opus International Consultants on Friday.

Residents had not been consulted at all about the highway, he said.

Last week, the eastern corridor political steering group recommended abandoning the 3.5km Parnell tunnel option in favour of crossing Hobson Bay and coming round the back of The Strand to Grafton Gully for the final leg into the city.

Eastern corridor director Grant Kirby said in a report that the Hobson Bay option would mostly impact on commercial properties, but also on "two significant residential apartment buildings".

Associate project director Jane Simmonds refused to name the apartment buildings for privacy reasons.

There are two major apartment buildings along the Hobson Bay route - the Mirage and the six-storey Gladstone Apartments.


Zel Unkovich, a legal adviser on the Gladstone Apartments owners' committee, said he had received nothing from the council about the highway and a series of ramps alongside Gladstone Bridge.


Residents at nearby Parnell Terraces and Sudbury Terrace had also heard nothing.

The project consultants have denied the existence of more details about the Hobson Bay route other than the lines on a map and a few sketchy details contained in a March report by Opus.

The plan includes a large 100m diameter roundabout at the bottom of Stanley St and a series of ramps alongside Gladstone Bridge.

The project communications manager, Darrell Carlin, said that "at the moment that is all that is there".

Asked how the project team had listed specific numbers of affected properties, he said Opus had made evaluations based on a line on a map.

Mr Carlin said that at present the project did not have official status. Once it had final approval the route would be known.

A source close to the project told the Herald that detailed plans existed but were being kept secret.

Greg McKeown, the chairman of the eastern corridor political steering group, said the decision last week to review buses from Panmure to the city meant more work needed to be done on the scale of the project.

City Vision leader Dr Bruce Hucker and Team Auckland councillor Victoria Carter said the eastern highway project was starting to resemble the Britomart scheme under Mayor Les Mills with secrecy becoming the norm.

Mrs Carter and City Vision councillor Glenda Fryer were kicked out when they tried to attend last week's meeting of the steering group.

The Ombudsman is also investigating whether Auckland and Manukau councils and Transit New Zealand should release "a very sensitive document" about the risks of the highway. Mr Kirby has refused to make the "risk register" public.

* Let us know if your property is affected by the highway. Email newsdesk@nzherald.co.nz