Today by chance we met KCDC councilor David Scott in a Paraparaumu Beach café and had a chat about Waikanae issues.

He is pessimistic about the future of Mahara Place post-Expressway opening, and felt that even the Countdown supermarket may not stay there.  A large amount has been paid by the council to Auckland consultants to come up with redevelopment ideas which feature on the KCDC website (see earlier).  But without enough people wanting to shop there, it may all be in vain and KCDC developments could be a repeat of the CleanTech centre fiasco in Otaki.

Near to where the Expressway off/on-ramps will be in Waikanae on Te Moana Road is a different situation, however, and these areas will become prime retail real estate. We’ve already seen this on Kapiti Road in Paraparaumu with the Kapiti Landing Development — the above illustration comes from this website where there are more.  The Kapiti Landing isn’t all — more developments are underway close to the off/on-ramps.

Will this happen on Te Moana Road?  It’s quite possible.  But how much can the council do to prevent this, and if it tried, would the result be expensive court battles?  We know what lawyers for property developers can be like — unscrupulous, devious and deceitful, to say the least. They don’t come cheap, but when many millions of dollars are involved the developers don’t care about ethics or cost, let alone the character of the community and the environment.