29 August, 2024

Amaia developer refuses to light public path

Board ‘powerless’ over lighting refusal

Developers of the Amaia apartment and hotel complex are refusing to install lighting on a public path and boardwalk at the coastal Esmonde Rd site.
“They don’t think the lighting is particularly useful,” an Auckland Council officer told a dismayed Devonport-Takapuna Local Board, which had requested lighting for the path.
The developer had told council staff it did not consider pathway lighting was necessary because a seven-storey building nearby would provide passive surveillance of the path, the board heard at its August meeting. It also did not wish to encourage people onto the site after dark.
Board member Mel Powell said this was annoying to hear. “It’s dark at 6pm in winter, when people are coming home.” Lighting was also not just desirable for surveillance, but to allow for recreation, she said.
Building of the pathway – a condition of KBS Capital’s resource consent – has begun. It is envisaged as a key link connecting planned longer-term walking and cycling routes through to Francis St in Hauraki.
Five years after completion, the path’s maintenance will fall to Auckland Council.
Board member Gavin Busch was concerned about the safety implications of an unlit path. “This is a pathway that is going to be vested back to us – the liability will rest with us in five or six years,” he said.
Busch said he felt like the developer was using “weasel words” to avoid putting in the lighting. The south-facing walkway could become damp and slippery, he suggested, though staff assured the board it would have non-slip surfaces.
The lighting issue arose when council staff sought the board’s approval for seats, signage and bollards the developer is installing, which will also have to be maintained by council. The board will have to meet future costs from its allocated operating expenses.
Board chair Toni van Tonder queried why the walkway was not also considered a “hard asset” requiring sign-off like the other items, but council staff said the consent did not require this.
Summing up, van Tonder said: “We are powerless which is annoying.”
The board unanimously decided that KBS Capital should be asked to reconsider the installation of LED strip lighting or other amenity lighting for public safety.
Discussions about the lighting last came up at a board briefing in April, after council consent for the pathway around and through the site was granted in February.
Amaia has been promoted as an urban village with strong connectivity to transport links. The first building, an apartment block, is almost finished. Work on a hotel block is due to start by the end of the year and take two years to complete.
A major upscaling of the project – with extra blocks up to 16 storeys high – was approved in September last year.
Marketing of remaining dwellings in the initial block of 104 apartments is underway. Apartments are expected to be ready for occupation from September.
Prices start from $799,000 and rise to $999,000 for two-bedroom apartments with a car park. Three-bedroom apartments cost from $1.569 million.
The marketing imagery online shows a design rendition of the first buildings, without those yet to come on the city-facing side of the site.

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