MAR 9: Four land development projects now under way or being planned for the Housing Corporation of New Zealand should make available up to 600 sections for new houses in Dunedin and Mosgiel in the next two years.
The first two schemes, at Waverley and Mosgiel, are under construction, with contractors working on site developments; the other two are in the early planning stages and will be sited off Ettrick Street, Brockville, and at Sawyers Bay.
The district engineer for the Housing Corporation in Dunedin, Mr Arthur Vogan, said yesterday the development at Waverley on the PSSA block would contain about 99 sections ranging in area from an eighth of an acre to quarter-acre blocks.
The variation in size was partly a result of the lie of the land and partly because of an effort to get more variation in the houses to be built there.
ATTRACTIVE SITE
"It certainly won't be another Brockville," Mr Vogan said.
"A strip of varying width down through the block will be a reserve, as will an area of about 2 acres at the lower end of the land. I think it will be a very attractive site."
Some of the sections will be kept for State rental housing, but most will be offered for sale by the corporation under its usual terms to landless people wishing to build homes.
The first few sections in the PSSA block could be on sale in the spring, but there is no definite time schedule on completion of the whole block.
About the same time, the first sections from the Mosgiel development are expected to go on sale.
This contains 172 sections in a block of land between Doon Street and Gladstone Road.
Two groups have shown interest in portions of the land for housing projects for elderly people, so the final number of housing sections is not definite at this stage.
BROCKVILLE SITE
Details of the development plan for the third site - off Ettrick Street, Brockville - are now being worked out with the Dunedin City Council.
Mr Vogan said there were many trees worth saving on this block and the aim was to retain as many as possible.
Drawing work should begin soon and it was expected that about 150 sections would be derived from the land.
The Hellyer block in Sawyers Bay, off Hall Road, should yield another 180 sections when it is completed next year, if all goes to schedule.