Network Waitaki may redevelop its Chelmer St site, in Oamaru, and move storage and servicing facilities to Weston, its chief executive says.
Early this year the consumer-owned electricity network company backed away from a proposal for a full-scale move to Parsons Rd, in Weston, and instead proposed moving only storage and servicing to the area and redeveloping its Oamaru base.
But the scaled-back plans still have some Parsons Rd residents concerned.
A property review conducted in early 2016 identified several deficiencies with the company’s current set-up at its Chelmer St property, Network Waitaki chief executive Graham Clark said.
The site was congested, hindering efficient operation; it lacked security; there were risks to pedestrians; and some buildings on site were no longer fit for purpose.
After submitting a resource consent application to the council indicating the possibility of relocating storage and servicing facilities - and its administration offices - to Weston, the company received "vibes" from both the council and the community that shifting the site wholesale would not be well received, Mr Clark said.
"We’re not a company that wants to go out of our way to go offside with our consumers, but we have to run a business," he said.
"We will redevelop this [Chelmer St] yard ... We believe we have got scope here to develop something that will meet the company’s needs for the foreseeable future.
"The company’s amended proposal to move to Weston was seen by some as the "thin edge of the wedge", Lance Isbister, of Weston, said.
If there was increased industry in the rural area it would "basically devalue the surrounding property", including his family’s Parsons Rd farm and other neighbouring properties.
"There are houses popping up all along those streets and we’re happy with that, because it could also be an opportunity for us. [But] who wants to live around ‘industrial’, where there are trucks going in?"
Hayley Melton, a 20-year Parsons Rd resident whose two children, aged 13 and 7, walk and bike along Parsons Rd said she had "huge concerns" about the potential impact on the fast-growing, affluent suburb.
She had been told by a valuer the negative impact on her property would be "substantial" and the relocation of Oamaru’s biggest utility was a "community issue", she said.
"I’ve seen lots of growth here, but it’s been lovely new lifestyle properties. It’s a lovely road and it’s a nice place to live — and then right next door it’s going to be like living next to the industrial park. It just doesn’t fit," she said.
"It sets [a] precedent — if the council allows Network Waitaki to set up just in any rural block and just on the outskirts of town, why would any business choose to go to the business park?"
The 100% consumer trust-owned company services 12,000 consumer connections across a network of 1800km of power lines, and maintains 16 substations.
A fleet of 20 trucks services its network, which stretches from the Waitaki River to Shag Point and up the Waitaki Valley to Ohau and the Hakataramea Valley.
