Extending quarry 'will destroy hilltop'

Palmers Quarry, Logan Point and the ridge running to Signal Hill in a photograph taken this month. Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.

Earlier this year, the Dunedin City Council's planning department approached us telling us that they considered Signal Hill so important to the city that they wanted to include our property in a new Significant Landscape Area.

I said that this did not make sense as most of the land was covered in gorse and wildling pines, and there was even more on the council reserve next to our property. The planning department emphasised that it was nothing to do with what was on the land, but it was how the land looked from the city.

Palmers is seeking resource consent to extend their Logan Point quarry and so mine their hilltop (knoll) on the northern end of their land next to the Signal Hill reserve.

The resource consent documents state there are significant economic advantages to having a quarry in the city; e.g. a relatively cheap source of gravel.

I offer a challenge to the Council's planning department - walk down to the railway station and look at Signal Hill. Because the Palmers Hill is closer than Signal Hill they appear the same size.

Why would you want to make Signal Hill a Significant Landscape Area but not apply that same zoning to the hilltop owned by Palmers Quarry? If Palmers is given a Resource Consent to expand their operation, then this is consenting to the destruction of a significant hilltop that is within 3km of the Octagon.

As a city, we need to debate the merits of having a quarry in our midst. It may have been acceptable 50 years ago, but now we are in the 21st century, is it acceptable today? Should the city council be working with Palmers Quarry with the view of finding a more appropriate site, then providing financial incentives to shift? What other cities in New Zealand have an operating quarry near the centre?

The Signal Hill recreational reserve is a playground for mountain bikers and walkers. There has been work done by community groups planting it out with trees. An existing pond has been extended with the intention it be a tranquil place to have picnics and enjoy the wonderful views of the city.

The edge of the quarry, if consent is granted, will be within 50m of this future picnic area.

Within a stone's throw of Palmers, the University Oval cricket ground has been developed and is now being extended. There is also the new stadium. It is interesting that in all the artist's impressions of what the stadium will look like, there is no quarry. The drawings show Logan Park, but where the quarry is, there is a green area with a few trees. Is this really what it's like?

Last time I looked at this area from Logan Park, it was a hillside of rubble. Do we really want our city environment to be like this?