Plastic not fantastic, say Marine Parade residents

It's the most expensive street in the Western Bay and is known for its sea views and multimillion-dollar properties, but Marine Parade residents are sick of the overpowering presence of plastic-wrapped apartments.

For more than a year, the luxurious street - median house value of $1.88million - has been blighted with apartment buildings enveloped in scaffolding and plastic.

The plastic creates a weatherproof environment for leaky building repairs, but residents are frustrated that successive deadlines have passed to complete the work.

Tauranga City Council member David Stewart, who lives nearby, said he had been getting constant complaints from people living around the apartment blocks since the deadlines expired.

While everyone felt sorry for the apartments owners, the patience of residents had run out, he said.

The plastic had now been up for more than a year despite assurances the job would be finished by last Christmas, Mr Stewart said. That had been followed by a March deadline and when that expired, residents were told it would be the end of this month.

"Six months or so was fair enough, but a year later people are getting fed up with the whole thing."

He said the main issues were the noise of the plastic flapping in wind, which was particularly annoying at night, and how the scaffolding and all-enveloping plastic gave the apartments a much bigger presence.

"I am getting it from the neighbours and I can't blame them. It is impinging on their views and the feeling of openness"

Height and sunlight rules designed to protect the quality of life for neighbours had been breached for more than a year, he said.

"It appears that once the plastic goes up, they think they can take as long as they like," he said.

Mr Stewart said repairs in such situations should be done as quickly as possible. If the owners of leaky apartments were going to abuse the privilege of council bending its building rules for the duration of repairs, then it might need new regulations to control how long the plastic was allowed to stay in place, he said.

"It is ridiculous that it has gone on for so long."

The work is being carried out by the body corporate representing the owners of the eight apartments in two blocks.

Council's environmental services manager Peter Frawley said it was the first time complaints had been received about a plastic wrapped building.

The answer could be a variation to the city plan.

Mount Maunganui Progressive Association chairman David Burnett said he could understand why residents might be concerned with the "untidy" plastic and associated noise in the middle of the night, but he had not heard of any complaints. with Ellen Irvine