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Plans to build 49 houses on land between Sandspit Road and the Mahurangi River in Warkworth have been given the go-ahead by a panel of independent commissioners, following a public hearing in March.
Commissioners Karyn Sinclair, Nicki Williams and Cherie Lane granted resource consent to Denis Horner’s The Kilns mixed housing development at 34 & 36 Sandspit Road, which is a non-complying activity under the site’s current Future Urban zoning.
They concluded that any adverse effects from the proposal would be minor and acceptable, and could be satisfactorily dealt with by detailed conditions, more than 80 pages of which were attached to their decision report.
“There are significant positive effects of the project that need to be considered when considering the effects of the project,” the report said.
These included the developer’s intentions to provide walking and cycling access to the historic Combes and Daldy lime kilns, as well as into Warkworth town centre via Millstream Place.
“The proposal responds to the unique features of the site including the heritage features, and landscape and visual values of the site,” the report added.
“The medium density development and subdivision will not unduly detract from the surrounding setting, given the limited visibility of the site (and) there will be negligible adverse effects on the Outstanding Natural Landscape.
“There are no other adverse effects that cannot be satisfactorily addressed by conditions, including heritage, cultural, construction and earthworks effects.”
The two-day hearing included appearances by three people in favour of the plans, including Gary Heaven for the Mahurangi Trail Society, who said that without this development “we are never going to get public access to the lime kilns”.
“Two people spoke against, including Jim Visser, who had concerns about the number of truck movements needed to develop the site, land stability and stormwater, and Forest & Bird Warkworth member Roger Williams, who said the proposed public walking and cycling access to the lime kilns and Puhinui Reserve could be improved.
The commissioners accepted evidence that the site had a “peri-urban character” (ie, it was adjacent to an urban area), which suggested that the Future Urban zoning objective to retain rural character was “essentially impossible”.
However, they found that simply being “at odds with the expectations of the FUZ” was not sufficient to refuse consent.
The Kilns development will include two and three-storey terraced houses, one and two-storey duplexes and two-storey houses, surrounded by a new vested reserve and an access road.
Consultant planner Burnette O’Connor told the March hearing that groundworks were planned for the 2023-24 earthworks season, with the construction to follow as connections to wastewater became available and demand allowed.
