Stonefields

I know you're supposed to hate the game and not the players, but the people living at Stonefield sure make it hard.

Anne Gibson reports that Auckland Council's knocked back developers' plans to add three apartment blocks and 11 terrace houses at Stonefields.

Matt Maingay, who leads neighbourhood action organisation Stonefields Lobby Group, welcomed the council's decision.

..."We support what Todd Property have achieved, but people need to make sure developers don't overstep this balance, that design doesn't completely ignore its surrounding, and that compromise can be beneficial to everyone. The benefit of Auckland growing at such a late stage is that we have the chance to avoid other cities' mistakes.

"If it hadn't been for a unified, concerned, and proud community, Aucklanders would have lost a little bit of themselves," Maingay said.

It struck Aaron Schiff as odd:

@EricCrampton the thing that struck me about this is, Stonefields is a new development but already residents are NIMBYing.

— Aaron Schiff (@aschiff) March 29, 2017

And Conan (surely not his real name) reminded us about this from last year:

@aschiff @EricCrampton is this the same amazing group that got the flying fox removed as kids having fun were making too much noise?

— Conan Gorbey (@arnie03) March 29, 2017

He's right:

A flying fox in a children's adventure playground has been temporarily disabled after noise complaints from residents.

An Auckland Council sign at Playtime Park, next to the Stonefields estate at the base of Mt Wellington, explains that tests carried out showed that noise generated by flying fox users "exceed levels permitted in the residential area".

According to the sign, the council was looking at options - including relocating the flying fox - and the community would be advised on the next steps soon.

Orakei local board member Kit Parkinson confirmed the flying fox had been disabled, but said he would know more about what had happened after a meeting today.

In November, the Herald reported that residents had complained about noise and kids' "squealing" coming from the flying fox at the playground, which opened in September, as well as large sand areas used to create a landing zone beneath the equipment.

I really really hope that the government moves on the Productivity Commission's recommendations around better urban planning.

Update: Does anybody know whether the original consents had apartments/terraced housing in them on this timeframe, or whether this was a new request?