Studio 412 Hair Design owner Emma Richards is concerned about the impact a service station may have on her business. Photo / Michael Cunningham
A proposed self-service petrol station in central Kamo has raised the ire of business owners who say the location is unsuitable for a fuel stop.
Gull New Zealand last year applied to the Whangārei District Council for the green light but the application is currently on hold after a request for further information, which included how vehicle access will work, traffic effects and how the site will be serviced.
Gull provides self-service stations across the country, selling fuel at a generally lower rate than other petrol and diesel providers.
The proposed site for the service station is at 410 Kamo Rd, the old laundromat which was also once a service station in the 1950s. The site is situated nearby a mixture of cafes, restaurants, and shops, as well as two additional service stations.
The application states the location of the service station will “enhance the local economy” by “retaining commercial activities within the Local Centre Zone and avoid urban sprawl in the process.”
The current proposal would mean demolishing the existing building, retaining the forecourt area, installing three petrol pumps (totalling six refuelling spaces), and installing two 60,000-litre underground fuel storage tanks.
The owner of hairdressers Studio 412 Hair Design Emma Richards discussed the proposals with the Advocate.
“I don’t see the point. It’s not ideal.”
If a fuel station is built next door, Richards said the business would create a blocking screen. She also noted concerns about the fumes from the nearby fuel pumps, which she and her clients would spend 50 hours a week working next to.
“I would like to do more research on what it means for myself and my team,” she said.
The owner of Kamo Bin Inn Mechele Aben has been vocal about the proposal, and said many Kamo locals and business owners were “annoyed”.
“All it’s going to do is put traffic across the main street. We don’t need another gas station, we’ve got two, it’s a very small village, what we need are more shops.”
Aben said there was no benefit to the local economy because of the “self-serve” nature of the fuel station, which won’t offer jobs to locals.
“We want to grow with shops and things, not service stations,” she said.
Information from WDC shows a decision on whether the application will be notified is yet to be determined, but will “likely” be done so in the next few weeks.
If it is notified, that means locals will be able to have their say, something Aben believes should “absolutely” occur.
Kamo Village Florist owner Amy Condon said she wasn’t against Gull bringing in a service station, but has concerns.
“I just don’t think that’s the right spot for it, with the new judder bars and the stop-go congestion,” she said.
Condon said the bus stop outside the building was popular now, and Intercity, school and Citylink buses each utilised the stop on a daily basis.
“I understand people are keen because they’ve got great rates, but is it better a bit further out?”
A traffic report included in the application found during peak hours, the daily averages are considered “moderate”. The application says observations of the immediate area do not create apparent operational problems that were cause for concern.
Assessments also noticed that the bus stop use was not overly high from a passenger transport perspective.
“These observations also show that the duration of stay in the stop is very short when the bus is present and that the number of passengers boarding and alighting is not great.”
Condon noted the opposite, saying in the afternoons the bus stop is packed with students waiting for buses so much so that the building behind is hardly visible.
Vehicle movements in and out of the fuel station would work in a southbound and clockwise manner. Traffic would turn left into a northern entry, and left again through the southern exit.
The current bus stop, which was only placed last year, will have to be removed to make way for the proposed vehicle access.
“It has been concluded that the site will not generate much new traffic for the road network, but instead will pull passing traffic into the site as part of the onward journey. For this reason, it is considered that the effects in the immediate and wider area are not expected to be cause for any concern,” the report said.
WDC is currently considering the information and will provide a response to the applicant as to whether the request has been satisfied regarding the revised design and traffic effects.