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Napier City Council is considering a proposal for affordable homes and a storage building on the seafront.
A company has lodged plans to build affordable homes on a coastal property it owns near Napier.
Auckland-based company Turu Pounamu Investments Limited has applied to Napier City Council for resource consent to build seven two-storeyed houses and a large two-storeyed building containing 100 storage units on the seaward side of State Highway 51 at Awatoto, about 6.5km southeast of Napier city.
The 6890sqm site has a long history of commercial and residential use. It was originally the site of a commercial building that became a cabaret/restaurant known as the Cabaret Cabana, which opened in 1950. In the 1970s, it became the Polynesian Palace, which closed in 1986.
The building burned down in 2014, at which time it housed a paua aquaculture operation.
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Each of the two-storeyed houses will have a floor area of 141m2.
There are presently seven residential units on the property, some of which partly extend into the foreshore reserve which is owned by the Crown and administered by the Department of Conservation, which leases it to Turu Pounamu.
The application proposed to remove the existing residential buildings and the remaining foundations of the former commercial building before developing the site.
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The site as it appears today.
The application states that the company intends to build new residential homes “to provide modern affordable housing choices within this area of Napier City”.
Each of the two-storeyed houses will have a floor area of 141m2 comprising three bedrooms with open-plan kitchen, dining, and lounge areas at ground floor. Each unit will have a double carport.
“The total floor area of the units is 141m2 which is still a modest sized dwelling but will enable modern, warm and dry accommodation for the residents at the site,” the application stated.
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A two-storey self-storage building of 1,676 m2 will be sited along the road frontage of the site.
The application notes that the site is located within a low flood risk area, and outside the coastal hazard zone.
“The proposal will have a positive effect of enabling people to provide for their social, economic and cultural well-being, and for their health and safety,” it said.
It also stated that the storage facility would provide a secure self-storage facility close to Napier and would “screen the proposed dwellings from the adjoining industrial development and busy road network”.
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The seven affordable homes and the storage building.
“The proposed residential development will provide a significant upgrade of the existing cottages of the site that comply with the relevant development standards and are set back from the adjoining open space reserve and outside of the coastal hazard area,” it said.
The site is in an area assessed as having a one in 100 likelihood of coastal inundation occurring in any given year.
The applicant said it had consulted with Waka Kotahi and had engaged with mana whenua and because environmental effects of the proposal would be less than minor, the consent could be granted without public notification.
A council spokeswoman said the application was being assessed.
