Residents in Trents Rd, Prebbleton, who want to preserve the semi-rural character of their area, have been “absolutely gutted”, a subdivision of 820 homes is likely to continue.
Prebbleton’s size is expected to grow significantly as hearing commissioner Tony Hughes-Johnson recommends Selwyn District Council accept Plan Change 68, a redevelopment application from Urban Holdings Ltd, Suburban Estates Ltd and Cairnbrae Developments Ltd.
It comes as another recently approved Prebbleton plan change, Plan Change 72 for 290 homes, goes to Environmental Court after an appeal is filed.
The PC68 application covers 68 acres between Trents Rd, Shands Rd, Hamptons Rd and the Sterling Park subdivision. Currently it is home to only 13 residences.
The proposed subdivision would affect three adjacent nurseries – Trents Nursery, Parva Plants and Morgan and Pollard Landscapes Ltd.
The nurseries are among about 10 neighboring property owners who supported each other in their individual filings against PC68. The group employed an urban planner as an expert witness during the hearing.
The group’s founder, Greg Tod, owner of Parva Plants, said he and his colleagues were upset and angry at the commissioner’s recommendation, and could not understand the decision given their very real concerns.
“They didn’t listen to the people it affects the most,” Tod said.
One of Parva Plants’ concerns was that the frontage of Trents Rd would become a busy intersection as the spiky road through the subdivision to Hamptons Rd would begin there.
This would cause nuisance to customers, staff and deliverers trying to access the nursery.
“Having that intersection is going to be a real traffic hazard,” Tod said.
David Somerfield, of Trents Nursery, said in his speech that the long-standing horticultural company employed local residents and generated annual sales of about $2 million per acre, while contributing about $3 million to the local economy through wages. and buying products and services.
One of his biggest concerns was that their new neighbors would complain about the noise from fans and heaters and the potential for agricultural sprayer spraying from the farm.
He and his wife Julie were now concerned about the longer-term future of the company. Relocation was not feasible due to the high cost of recovery.
Adam Pollard, of Morgan and Pollard Landscapes Ltd, was also concerned about the potential for their future neighbors to complain about their activities, making it impossible for the company to stay there in the long run.
The company, which employs 62 permanent employees and 10 seasonal employees, was operating earthmoving and other equipment and may have caused noise and dust. In addition, the hedge and tree trimmings burned.
Tod said he had “a glimmer of hope” that district councilors would see common sense and not take the commissioner’s recommendation.
District councilors will discuss the recommendation at one of their upcoming meetings.
Tod said previous expansion expectations for Prebbleton had been on the other side of Springs Rd, so he hoped district councilors would reject the plan change and not follow the path they had taken for another controversial plan change request, that of PC69 for 1710 new ones. houses near Lincoln.
The PC69 application has been approved by the district council and is now subject to appeal, with the appeals closing on August 4.
Tod said he and other petitioners could appeal PC68’s decision if it is approved.
Meanwhile, the district council’s decision to approve PC72, taken in April, has been appealed by a neighbor of the proposed development, GM and J Drinnan.
The Drinnans are concerned about rainwater runoff and want some of their property to be included in the redevelopment area.
The PC72 redevelopment application came from the Trices Road Rezoning Group, comprising the existing 28.7 ha landowners on the southern boundary of Prebbleton.