Gisborne Herald Article cont:

UNHAPPY VALLEY
Kathy McVey's son often plays in the area and she has found it busy enough without an extra 40 households.
This was such a quiet street and it has just got busier and busier. These sorts of developments keep getting approved around Gisborne.
"I'm surprised the Sponge Bay development was allowed to go through, and it's just another group of people proposing another one - it's not even lifestyle.
"I don't buy it or the idea that a park would somehow make it OK. It just means more people, more cars, public toilets, slabs of concrete." If there were a zone change, the immediate effect would be an increase in the value of Kate Fraser's land, but there would be no guarantee she would complete a subdivision as she proposed, said Lysnar Street resident Karinjean Danielle.
"She's doing a good job in terms of public perception, and has some good people on her team, but if the zoning goes through she could just sell it to a developer and none of what she is proposing would necessarily happen in the way she is saying."

Although they accept there will be development, it would be good if local iwi could engage with developers to keep the features of the land intact, says Wainui resident Nikki Searancke, a descendant of Rakaiatane, the founding chief of the Ngati Rakai hapu of the area. "I've known for some time that Kate was thinking about putting in a subdivision. My mother and I have talked about it and we're not against it, but we want to protect our wahi tapu. I didn't know she wanted to change to zoning, but it's early days and there's a lot to go through for that.
"Whatever we think, development will keep rolling out to meet us and we have to keep engaging with people like Kate. We don't want to be shut out and start moaning down the track when things have happened that we don't like."
The land beneath the proposed subdivision had a violent past, she said. "Itwas the site of the last major battle keeping Mahaki out of the area they used to come down there through the valley from the Waimata Blockand were always met at the Hamanatua Stream. There have been more warriors' bones found there and in the stream than anywhere else in the area."

Council staff have asked Kate Fraser for further information relating to her request for a private plan change, said regulatory department manager Hans van Kregten.
Once this information was received the councillors would determine whether the requested plan change needed to be notified as a council-promoted plan change, or as a private change,he said.
Once the proposed change is notified, anyone can make submissions for or against it. These will be heard by the council, which will then make a decision. That decision will need to be based on a comprehensive environmental assessment of the effects of the proposed plan change.
Appealsto the Environment Court can be made by parties who believe that thedecision is contrary to the provisions of the Resource Management Act.