The opening hours suggested for a new Mosgiel Countdown would be the shortest of any supermarket in the country, a council hearing committee was told yesterday.
A recent Dunedin City Council planning report on the proposed Gordon Rd store said restricting opening hours to 9am until 6pm would ease the supermarket's effects on surrounding residents.
But Progressive Enterprises, which owns the country's Countdown stores, said that would be the most restrictive opening hours in the country, and showed the committee examples of new Countdown stores built in or adjacent to residential areas with opening hours ranging from 7am-9pm to 7am-10pm.
Countdown's proposed hours for the Mosgiel site are 8am-9pm.
Much of yesterday's hearing was spent discussing traffic and parking details.
Local resident group Positively Progressive Taieri's concerns were centred on Countdown staff parking on the streets surrounding the proposed store.
But those concerns about staff parking in the street were allayed when Progressive said it would ensure all staff parked their vehicles on the site.
The committee heard the proposed number of car parks on the site - 174 - was short of the recommended 178 stipulated by the New Zealand Transport Agency.
Transport engineer Don McKenzie said the car park would only reach capacity ''on the busiest one or two days of the year''.
Dunedin City Council urban designer Peter Christos said his major concern with the proposal was ''the absolute sea of car parks'' that would front on to Gordon Rd.
He said while proposed landscaping could hide the car park for the first few years, if maintenance tapered off, that landscaping could end up looking ''shabby'', and could fail to hide the car park sufficiently.
Committee chairman Andrew Noone said the committee would now conduct a site visit before requesting any necessary additional information next week.
It was hoped Progressive would be able to reply to any requests by Friday, June 19, following which a decision could be made.
