Plans to relocate a shop and to realign State Highway 1 where it curves through Waitati should be approved subject to conditions, Dunedin City Council planners say.
The council's hearings committee will on Tuesday hear a proposal to improve a stretch of road that has been blighted by nine vehicle crashes over a decade.
Land Transport New Zealand wants its notice of requirement to smooth the curve confirmed, and for consent to relocate the Blueskin General Store away from the new road.
The two-year project will soften the curve by shifting it away from the coast and across land next to the current road's northbound lane.
It will also shift the Blueskin General Store to about where Waitati's Harvey St intersects with the highway.
It will affect about 1km of highway, stretching about 400m north and 600m south of Harvey St.
The store will be relocated to a temporary site near Harvey St before it is rebuilt on its new, permanent home.
In a report prepared for the committee, council planner Jacinda Baker suggests the potential adverse effects of the works can be mitigated.
She recommends the committee confirm the notice of requirement and impose a raft of conditions to minimise potential community and environmental effects.
They include NZTA preparing construction and traffic management plans, dampening dust, mitigating erosion and controlling stormwater runoff, and undertaking native planting.
Some submissions were concerned about the lack of information about proposed bus stops and shelter, or were concerned about people needing to cross the highway to get there.
NZTA needed to consider further bus stop safety and locations, and may have to talk more with the community, she notes.
Planner Kirstyn Lindsay says the proposal to move the Blueskin General Store first to a temporary site and then to its new home would not undermine the integrity of the District Plan.
Moving it to Waitati proper would retain a community amenity, cluster commercial activity in the same area and would be sensible use of land beside the highway.
