Residentstakeaimatcouncilanddevelopers

• Published date: 18 April 2024
• Publication title: Otago Daily Times (New Zealand)

The stickers, made by frustrated Rawhiti St residents, directed criticism at both the Dunedin City Council and developers for the new developments, which have shot up in streets nearby

One sticker read: ‘‘Property developers + DCC = a recipe for disaster’’.

Another read: ‘‘Sell my family home to a developer? I’d rather eat my own faecal matter’’.

Rawhiti St, in Musselburgh, is lined with family homes on large sections with gardens and trees.

Resident Graeme Franklyn and 40 other residents had objected earlier this year to a draft council plan that would allow more intensive development in the street and in others nearby.

They said it would reduce space for nature and occupy ground that would soak up rain. They said townhouses were ‘‘ugly concrete pads that simply result in water running off’’ and other solutions should be found, including converting existing buildings in the city centre into apartments.

Neighbouring South Dunedin is predicted to suffer increasingly from emerging groundwater during intense rain events due to climate change.

Housing intensification would result in streets becoming less desirable, families moving away, lower house prices and ruination of the ‘‘strong sense of community’’...