My Account
A development that, should it go ahead, will transform Gulf Harbour town centre, was presented to a group of residents recently.
The site at 1 Laurie Southwick Parade (and two adjacent lots) is also bordered by Gulf Harbour Drive and Harbour Village Drive. It is currently grassed open space which overlooks the town centre and canal. It has been owned by Harbourside Group (sole director Donghan Liu of Rothesay Bay) for many years.
Harbourside put its development plans before members of the Gulf Harbour Marine Village Residents Association, whose homes adjoin the site, at the association’s recent annual meeting.
They show four blocks of 5-8 storey buildings almost completely covering the site. The tallest are similar in height to the nearby Lookout apartment blocks and are on the Laurie Southwick Parade frontage.
The proposal is a mixed-use development including around 230 retirement apartments, a 100-bed care home, ground floor retail/commercial space and underground car parking.
Pedestrian walkways through the development and the construction of a new promenade walkway around the harbour’s edge are also on the plans.
The company has not yet applied to Auckland Council for resource consent, so the proposal is in its early stages. Harbourside Group revealed the plans at this stage “to seek feedback and support” from neighbours.
This part of Gulf Harbour is in the Local Centre zone, where the maximum allowable height is 16m of occupied building space with an additional 2m of roof space (18m in total) – approximately six storeys.
Harbourside Group told residents the proposal “will add vitality and economic benefit to the area by completing the development at this end of the harbour and bringing a significant number of people to the area as residents of the village”.
However, Gulf Harbour residents who have seen the plans have mixed views.
Rod Klarwill, a member of the residents association, says many at the meeting, himself included, feel that retirement options are needed in Gulf Harbour and are welcomed by people who love the area. He says members also appreciated that the developer was willing to communicate with the community early on.
However, he says there is disquiet about the potential for such tall and bulky structures to shade the surrounding area, including the eastern apartments of the Lookout, and impact views. He is also concerned about whether there will be enough parking in the proposal as it stands.
“The design we saw blocks in the head of the canal, and I’m not sure how many view shafts they will allow,” he says.
Another Gulf Harbour resident, Alan Parker, says he was aghast when he saw the plans, which he describes as “totally inappropriate for the location”.
“I am concerned about the enormity of the proposed development because it will place a seven and eight story-high wall right through our community from Laurie Southwick Parade to Harbour Village Drive, completely changing the character of the area – if it is allowed to progress,” Parker says. “Added to this I believe it will risk our infrastructure that was not designed for the current numbers, let alone a potential addition of 200 plus dwellings and a hospital block – as well as the increase in traffic it will bring both around our schools and the single entry and exiting roads that are already over capacity”.
“There must be a more appropriate location for such a development – a location where it can be designed into a community rather than becoming an overpowering structure completely out of character with our social environment, encroaching on our open spaces, and shading our waterway and public spaces. Our Council, and indeed the developers, must recognise the residents who have chosen this community to live in, and many of us to retire in, and not impose such a structure into our community,” Parker says.
There is currently a caveat over two of the three Lots – Lot 1 (1 Laurie Southwick Parade) and Lot 2, which were registered on May 4, 2022 in favour of V-Power NZ Limited, (Director Yu Zhang of Auckland). I
Information supplied by Land Information NZ shows that the caveat is an agreement that essentially gives the caveator, V-Power NZ, first refusal for purchase of those two Lots from Harbourside Group. V-Power is listed on the Companies Office register as a wholesaling company.
Representatives of Harbourside Group were contacted but declined to comment.
