A hearing was held in January on the application by the Dunedin City Council's parks and recreation services department to demolish two small, dilapidated buildings at the park, and replace them with two prefabricated buildings already owned by the council. Independent commissioner David Benson-Pope heard from residents living above the then proposed location for the new softball clubrooms and toilet block, who asked that the buildings not be placed in front of their homes.
They also expressed their frustration at the council's manner of consultation with the community over the plans, which they felt was presented as a fait accompli.
In his recent decision, Mr Benson-Pope agreed with the submitters.
While he acknowledged the efforts made by the council to respond to concerns raised in submissions, he said he was of the view that, as a council department, the applicant should work co-operatively with affected parties to resolve concerns in any case, ''and certainly to a greater extent than might be expected had the applicant been a private person or company''.
Accordingly, he considered that siting the prefabricated buildings 18m further along Frasers Rd was more suitable than the original proposal because it was less sensitive in terms of the outlook from neighbouring properties and provided better mitigation of effects.
He believed siting the buildings 40m further along Frasers Rd would have been better, but that would have had unreasonable consequences for the council in terms of the additional earthworks, engineering design and the associated costs that would be required.
He also imposed other conditions, which he said made acceptable the effects of the proposal on the amenity values of the park, adjoining sites and on the natural landscape qualities and character of the setting.
They included the relocation of smaller vegetation to near the buildings, which he said would go some way towards lessening the impact of the loss of vegetation associated with construction of the buildings.
Amended plans showing the basement area beneath the prefabricated buildings closed in with timber slats adequately addressed the design and security issues that had been raised by submitters, he said.
Local resident and submitter Kerry Goodhew said the result was being seen by residents of the area as not ideal, but an acceptable compromise.
''We decided we can't win it all, but we can win a bit.''
He praised Mr Benson-Pope's handling of the matter, and was pleased he raised the issue of applicants working co-operatively with affected parties to resolve concerns.
The upgrade is expected to cost about $100,000, paid for by the Otago Softball Association.
