Developers' plans to build 1775 homes near Auckland's most popular beach have been cut back 10 per cent by North Shore City Council because of landscape and heritage concerns.
Council officers told of major engineering challenges and a move to legally protect old Maori sites from bulldozers during yesterday's hearing
of planning changes to allow buildings on farm land behind Long Bay Regional Park.
Since a plan for urban development of the 200ha was ordered by the Environment Court in 1996, the council has grappled with ways to stop stormwater runoff from roofs and roads spoiling streams, the park and marine reserve.
But a further problem was aired yesterday. The sloping site had some unstable areas where housing development would call for significant earthworks and modification of the landscape, said the Riley engineering consultancy.
It recommended the council insist on low-density housing on large sections in areas of marginal stability in the upper and lower catchment, with limited earthworks. Existing landforms should be kept.
Landscape consultant Stephen Brown said the choice of areas for housing came down to the opinions of geotechnical engineering experts and to the amount of engineering solutions that the council thought would be appropriate.
"Engineers say they can fix anything but do you flatten out all the ridgelines?"
Mr Brown said in one place 6m would have to be shaved off a ridgeline to take homes.
The proposed structure plan would concentrate housing in lower valley areas that were more capable of taking them - around Long Bay College and primary school and close to the border with the regional park.
This would be at the expense of lower density in more environmentally sensitive and physically fragile places in the upper valley of the catchment.
To a question from hearing commission panel chairman Michael Savage, Mr Brown said it was previously planned to allow 1775 new building lots.
The public hearing is expected to continue for nine days.
