Brown seeks smooth path for subdivision

A Dunedin city councillor subdividing his Mosgiel property has drawn on his local-body experience to try to reduce neighbourly tensions among residents.

Cr Syd Brown, who plans to develop 212 sections on the 10ha property he and his wife, Shona, own, said covenants would cover the most common issues between neighbours - where trees could be planted, fence designs, building and landscaping standards, and where items such as trucks, caravans and campervans could be parked.

"The covenants are not prohibitive. But I have learnt about issues that arise between neighbours ... and want to make sure this subdivision has quality homes and quality amenities," he said recently.

Cr Brown breeds and trains horses on the Hagart Alexander Dr property.

His subdivision, to be called Highland Park, had been 15 years in the planning, he said.

He obtained consent to rezone his land from rural to residential in 2001 but the rezoning was overturned and an independent commissioner appointed to consider the bigger picture of where residential expansion of Mosgiel should occur.

Eventually, after years of hearings and an appeal to the Environment Court, four rural areas, including the Browns' property, were rezoned in 2007.

Collectively, the 115ha of land is capable of being developed into 1400-1640 sections and increasing the number of households in Mosgiel by about 40%.

Cr Brown said he decided about 18 months ago to develop his property himself and began working with a landscape architect and a surveyor to create a high-quality subdivision.

Among the features would be pocket parks, roadside reserves, a network of cycle and pedestrian tracks, hedges and landscaping, wider-than-average roads, swales to store rainwater during heavy rains, decorative footbridges and a fibreoptic cable network for broadband connections.

The development would be staged over several years, with sections in the first three stages expected to be on the market within the next 12-15 months.

He "wanted a point of difference" for the subdivision, he said.

"I wanted to enable people to build houses here and know their investment would be protected and enhanced by the surrounding amenities."

Cr Brown's is about the fourth subdivision on land rezoned by the Environment Court.

Dozens of homes and a large church have already sprung up between Factory Rd and the Silver Stream, and in the Gladstone Oaks subdivision off Gladstone Rd North.

Development has yet to begin on another 21.4ha Gladstone Rd North block, on 32ha of land neighbouring Cr Brown's between Hagart Alexander Dr and Wingatui Rd, and on 29.5ha between the East Taieri village and State Highway 1.

- allison.rudd@odt.co.nz