Stormwater pond an eyesore

BY: MICHELLE ROBINSON

After spending a chunk of their retirement savings on landscaping, a Birkdale couple say they want the council to uphold its end of the deal.

Dave and Jenny Copplestone say they spent about two years looking for a section to build on with their retirement savings before settling on
Monte Cassino Place.

Their requirements were simple – a view, and level ground for a one-storey house because Mrs Copplestone has a spinal disability, she says.

But during the four years they have lived there, the large neighbouring stormwater pond has became stagnant, attracted mosquitos and is an eyesore, say the couple.

For three years they have pleaded with the North Shore City Council and Auckland Regional Council to fix it up, they say.

"All I want is to make it look better," Mr Copplestone says. "For $5000 I could make a great job of it."

When the couple moved in, the pond was full of life and looked pleasant, but because of drainage issues it soon deteriorated, they say.

"Our friends come around and they say: ‘What’s that, a sewer pond’?" Mr Copplestone says.

They say it’s unfair when they had to spend $15,000 planting and landscaping their back section and deck which were part of a resource consent requirement.

"It took two months to go through the parks department about the deck," Mr Copplestone says.

He says it cost $13,500 and 10 months in negotiations before the deck was even built.

The balcony’s walls are glass and the area below and underneath it is planted with about $2000 worth of shrubbery, Mrs Copplestone says.

City council senior adviser of compliance and monitoring Chris Randell says the prevention of erosion and settlement was a consent requirement.

He says the eventual design was proposed by the Copplestones who were assisted by engineers.

Stormwater operations manager Frank Tian says there were problems with the pond because the developer did not complete it to standard and went bankrupt.

The council, with support from ARC, took over responsibility of the pond and recently transformed it into a dry area that only holds water after significant rain, he says.

Contractors removed silt and vegetation that was causing sediment to settle, and planted it with grass and surrounding flax bushes, he says.

He says council staff will revisit the site in winter to replant grass if it’s needed.

- © Fairfax NZ News