We have learned that consent for a service station-style unmanned carwash structure has been granted for 277 St Johns Rd, near the garden centre.
What has been approved?
The carwash will operate 24-hours, be 3.22m high and 54.6m2. It will require a Council-owned Ash tree to be removed. View a picture of the structure below:
Where exactly is it going?
It will be constructed on Council-owned land, inbetween 277 St Johns Rd and the road itself. View a diagram below:
Why haven’t I heard about it before now?
Auckland Council granted non-notified consent of the development, despite recommendations from Orakei Local Board for full notification. The consent document includes the following statement from Orakei Local Board Planning Spokesperson Troy Churton:
“This remains a non-complying activity. A 24 hour proposal is incongruent with planning policies for the site and surrounding sites which include considerable green field and recreational pathway developments.
The specified departures enabling commercial activity do not sanction extended trading hours into the evenings and it would be a very dangerous precedent to allow that 24 hour operation to take place at this site and establish a cumulative effect or precedent effect that other future applicants could follow.
I do not support the proposal for 24 hour activity on this site and at least the matter ought be fully notified as, by asking for 24 hours in this area, it is a special circumstance that justifies full notification.”
Read more
Consent documents:
- Signed resource consent document 18 January 2016
- Resource consent variation (for 24 hour operation) signed 25 January 2016
Plans: