TRANSCRIPT of PROCEEDINGS BOARD of INQUIRY Proposed
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TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS BOARD OF INQUIRY Proposed Ruakura Development Plan Change HEARING at KINGSGATE HOTEL, HAMILTON on 6 June 2014 BOARD OF INQUIRY: Judge Melanie Harland (Chairperson) Mr Jim Hodges (Board Member) Ms Jenny Hudson (Board Member) Mr Gerry Te Kapa Coates (Board Member) Page 1702 APPEARANCES <DIANA CHRISTINE WEBSTER, affirmed [2.25 pm] ......................... 1773 <THE WITNESS WITHDREW [3.24 pm] ....................................... 1794 5 Kingsgate Hotel, Hamilton 03.06.14 Page 1703 [9.21 am] CHAIRPERSON: Thank you. Nga mihi nui kia koutou, good morning to everyone. We are just about to start this morning with hearing from 5 some of our submitters and I understand that there is to be a slight change in order and we are starting with Miss van Beek first, thank you. MISS VAN BEEK: Good morning. 10 CHAIRPERSON: Good morning, just when you are ready. MISS VAN BEEK: Hello, my name is Anita van Beek and I am just doing my own personal kind of feelings about this submission. So I am not 15 possibly the best prepared for talking here as I have tried to read and understand some of the stuff and it has all been a bit gobbledygook, unless someone was there to explain some of it. So I haven’t have had a lot of time to read all of it, there’s busy jobs and things like that in my own life. 20 So basically this is kind of more my feelings. So, for example, some of the simple things like a “transportation corridor” I interpreted as “roads” but wondered if there was any difference between the two, sometimes it seemed like French to me. 25 I am ex-resident as well as a homeowner at Fairview Downs. My intention had been to live there but things change and life moves on. There was a possibility that I would move back but it would be very unlikely if this project was to proceed, that being stage 1 approved and 30 presumably by default stage 2 then being an industrial park at my back doorstep. I seek quietness when I am at home and have managed to avoid any place with constant noise in my 14 years in Hamilton. I have the 35 occasional drum roll from my current neighbours but those are luckily short and far between in occurrence. Oh, and there’s a dog that barks some nights but once the en suite door is closed I do not hear it. And I am not sure but sometimes I hear the rumble of Cobham Drive to the north or the train to the west, and in the east Shakespeare in the Park 40 driving across the river at 4 am in the morning and once or twice there’s some dope smoke drifting up the gully. So to me it is pretty normal residential noise levels and activities. If this development were to proceed I think the constant noise in some 45 way, shape or form will descend forever upon the residents of Fairview Downs. I am speaking from a layman’s point of view on how I feel the Kingsgate Hotel, Hamilton 03.06.14 Page 1704 suburb would be negatively affected by this development and is it in the right place altogether? Economics and relevance of the inland port to Hamilton. I question the 5 relevance of an inland port or maybe we should say another distribution centre for Hamilton, I believe there are two to three around already. Also why would goods arriving to New Zealand via Auckland or Tauranga get transported to Hamilton and then be reassigned to be transported elsewhere, would you not make those distribution decisions 10 closer to the points of arrival, ie in Auckland and Tauranga? I believe that Auckland and Tauranga have set aside land for those possibilities which leads you to question the long term viability of the proposed Ruakura inland port when it could be undercut by rivals 15 establishing distribution hubs in Tauranga or Auckland when they see fit to do so. 400-odd hectares of land is a lot to develop. I have heard the suggestion that a reason to have the port at Ruakura on that side of the river, as opposed to this side where other similar 20 distribution centres work, is to ease congestion over the bridges and bring work to that side of the river. I am not sure that would be a result from this development, easing congestion, as all the workers may be on this side of the river. 25 [9.25 am] It would be a shame to have something in an incorrect place to satisfy other goals that may not be achieved. It is almost like, “We have a piece of land let’s think of something to do with it”. I was the person 30 who submitted the by chance viewing in Ontario Canada of the Walmart Distribution Centre, which was a mass of concrete buildings and idling trucks waiting to enter and take goods on the road. Granted they have about 200 trucks per hour supposedly leaving that hub. It was fascinatingly stark and ugly to look at. 35 I am not sure if it was clear but the centre was close to the motorway but away from the township with room to expand and not go near the township. It is just on, if not more, than two kilometres away from the township, not a 40 to 50 metre strip as proposed by this plan. The area 40 was also surrounding by trees. I am led to believe that trees are not going to do much about pollution and noise, I thought they might. However, they may give some sort of compensation on views that will be lost if this proceeds. The back end of industrial buildings does not seem appealing even if the graffiti makes interesting reading. 45 Kingsgate Hotel, Hamilton 03.06.14 Page 1705 Development of Fairview Downs. My house has been built on piles as the soil on my spot was peat and not solid enough to build on. Of course the soil changes around the place. I am guessing industrial buildings though in themselves may not weigh much, their contents 5 could. How much preparation will be required for the 400 hectares of land that is to be developed? How much topsoil is going to be trucked out and then appropriate fill trucked in before building of any sorts of buildings can begin here? Are there not more suitable locations that requires less works? Trucks equal pollution. 10 Where I currently live I do not have a – oh, this is a bit of aside – I do or did have a fear for my lovely gully that I am having planted in trees that could also suffer from this development. Even though I am having trees planted my neighbour informs me he wishes to fill in the gully so 15 he can build flats on it. He says he will allow access so I can do the same on my bit. He just does not get that I have purchased where I am for peace and quiet. However, my brother-in-law informs me that only clay could be suitable for a gully fill. 20 Who would choose to live here? At one of our one on one meetings with the TGH representative we were talking of the effects of the development on local residents. I did bring up house values, which we are not allowed to talk about, which he tactfully said would not be affected as there is no effect on residents from this development. 25 We then asked him if he would like to move into our houses, they are nice three bedroom houses in a quiet suburb with a rural outlook. He was not keen because in reality mine, like many others, will be a nice three bedroom house sitting on the edge of an industrial park or in 30 inland port that can run 24/7 at higher decibel ratings than elsewhere in Hamilton, with noise and pollution emissions a high possibility. Those of you who can afford not to live there will live elsewhere in Hamilton. Conversations. This brings us to the mitigations that are being offered. 35 The conversation about negative effects rebounded with minimum standards of Hamilton City Council will be met to any of our queries around sound, dust and light spill. Around sound the developers are asking for higher limits and giving minimum mitigation. 40 I have no degrees in noise but after talking to my brother, a local councillor in Whakatane, I believe that conversations are held at 53 decibels. So, if the rules say that at my fence line the noise must be under 55 decibels during the day, that would mean someone could be at my fence line, less than five metres from my patio, having a 45 conversation from 7 am to 8 pm at night and I would not be able to complain about that. It sounds kind of horrible. Kingsgate Hotel, Hamilton 03.06.14 Page 1706 A friend of mine was working in an industrial park, maybe they should have done decibel testing there to see if the other business was in excess of their noise. However, the other business would run one of 5 their machines for a whole day. Ironically they would lock up the business and leave because the noise levels were too high for them to stay in the building. On those days, between the constant noise and vibrations from next door, she and her fellow administrator would leave their place of work with headaches from the noise next door.