Residents of Moy Place and Sue Avenue are angry at the approval of a nearby subdivision that allows traffic to pass through their quiet streets, but they have vowed to fight on.

The decision under fast-track legislation by an expert consenting panel of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) offers little hope for the residents, but they hope a small parcel of land will undo the developer’s plans. The land is at the end of Moy Place and is deemed a “road reserve parcel”.

For the Moy Estate development to go ahead, the status of the land will have to be reclassified as a road. That’s a task for Kāpiti  Coast District Council. The residents hope councillors will side with them and retain its current status.

The land is critical because traffic would have to cross it to get to the 137-house development. Without it being a road, the development by Wakefield Group Holdings would need separate access, which the residents have argued should always be directly from Old State Highway 1.

In its decision, the panel said it acknowledged the many comments it received about the parcel.

“However, a separate statutory process, outside our jurisdiction, applies to the use of that parcel,” the decision said. “The panel is aware that before access to the subdivision is able to be established, the road reserve parcel will require dedication as a road.

“Under section 106 RMA, the panel is required to ensure sufficient provision has been made for legal and physical access to each allotment to be created by the subdivision. Accordingly, we have included a condition that requires the road reserve parcel to be dedicated as a road before the applicant [the developer] can seek the first section 224(c) certification for the proposal. The panel notes that the applicant bares any risk if the road reserve parcel is not dedicated as a road.”

 Resident spokesperson Lyall Payne was heartened by the response of the Ōtaki Community Board when he spoke at its meeting on July 23. The board unanimously passed a motion urging KCDC not to change the reserve status of the parcel of land.

“I made it clear that we don’t oppose the subdivision at all,” Lyall says. “We just want the access to be via the main road.”

Council chief executive Darren Edwards said in response to a letter from the residents that the council would wait until after the 15-day appeal period and confirmation of the final decision before talking with councillors about a decision whether to change the parcel’s status.

Interestingly, the EPA decision did require construction traffic to enter and exit at the highway while the estate was being built, but it said public traffic should thereafter go via Sue Avenue and Moy Place. It said the increased volumes of traffic would have little effect on the neighbourhood.

Meanwhile, a resident of Sue Avenue is infuriated at the removal of a rare tree from the street’s Tōtara Park playground as it is being upgraded by KCDC.

“When they cleared all the trees off that site they removed an extremely healthy, mature New Zealand native, a mountain akaeke, or olearia avicenniaefolia,” says Margaret Turnball. “They are beautiful trees.”

However, KCDC’s parks, open spaces and environment manager, Gareth Eloff, says his team had to cut down some boundary vegetation as it didn’t meet the safety standards for “fall zones” around the newly redesigned playground.

“The plans for the playground had been extensively consulted on with the community,” he says. “The team also confirmed that none of the trees were notable trees protected under the District Plan.  Once the playground upgrade is done, we’ll be doing appropriate replanting to complete the project.”

Margaret and her late husband, Alastair, founded the famous Talisman Nurseries in Auckland before bringing it to Ōtaki in 1987. After Alastair died, Margaret moved to Sue Avenue and  noticed the tree, identifying it as a rare example of the mountain akeake.

To view the EPA decision, search “Moy Estate” at epa.govt.nz