Residents petition Hastings council over Karanema Drive water pumping station

A petition from local residents is calling for an alternative site for the pump station, and for the green space on Karanema Drive to be classified as an open space reserve. Photo / Nicki Harper

Residents near Karanema Drive are hopeful the council will change its mind about installing a water pump station on a vacant piece of council land, amid fears of the noise and impact on surrounding property values.

A public meeting, attended by about 50 people, was held at the Havelock North Function Centre in November last year, organised by concerned residents who wanted an opportunity to air their views.

Since then a petition had been sent to the council, signed by 25 residents in the area, calling for the council to find an alternative site for the pump station, and for the small park on the corner of Karanema Drive and Te Mata Rd to be reclassified as an open space reserve.

A resource consent application and assessment of the environmental effects of a booster pump station at 25 Karanema Drive said the pump was necessary because Brookvale Bore 3 was to be decommissioned following the Havelock North gastro outbreak.

With the council committed to building a new trunk main for a secondary water supply connection between Hastings and Havelock North, the pump station would provide the pressure to get potable water to people living at higher points of the village.

The report said alternative sites were considered, but based on engineering and environmental considerations, the Karanema Rd site on a vacant block of council-owned land which backed onto Bennelong Place was chosen.

Although some residents adjacent to the site were consulted in Bennelong Place, many from the surrounding area who turned up at the meeting were unhappy because they did not know about it, or did not have all the details of its design.

They raised concerns about the volume of the noise that would be produced, the appropriateness of the pump station in a residential area, and the potential impact on property values.

In the initial application the floor area of the pump station was proposed to be about 160 square metres and it would stand about 7 metres high. It would include an electrical transformer, ventilation fans and an emergency generator.

The petition would be presented to the council at a meeting on Thursday this week, and in a report to that meeting group manager asset management Craig Thew recommended that officers prepare a report on options as soon as possible for a future council meeting on the issue.

He also recommended that the lead petitioners be invited to speak to their petition at a meeting to be held on February 22.