Bridge St

The Dominion Post: Rongotai homes disappearing

Posted onAuthorSea RotmannLeave a comment

A home is moved from Bridge St, Miramar, as the airport removes properties in its noise zone. Houses in Bridge St are starting to disappear as Wellington Airport forges ahead with plans to remove 44 homes near its runway. One house had already been removed from the area in Rongotai and another was ”jacked up” on trailers, ready to be taken away. About nine houses along the street were now vacant and many more families were in the process of packing up. ”It’s sad that all our old neighbours have left,” said Bridge St resident Heather Courtney. “I lost a really good friend a couple of doors down.” In May, Wellington Airport announced plans to either demolish or sound-proof about 700 houses around it to mitigate future airport noise. The airport is allowed to emit up to 65 decibels, on average, over a 90-day period at its air noise boundary. It currently emits an average of about 61dB, but an independent study identified 44 houses in Bridge St where noise could exceed 75dB on average. The airport already owned half of those houses and gave its tenants six months to move out. It will extend an offer to purchase the Read More …

The Dominion Post: Airport plans may create ‘wasteland’

Posted onAuthorSea RotmannLeave a comment

FORCED TO SELL: Bridge Street resident Heather Courtney. The Wellington Airport noise zone. Heather Courtney says her retirement plans were thrown into disarray by a letter in her mail box this week. The Bridge St resident is one of 22 home owners on the edge of Wellington Airport’s runway who were told the airport would offer to buy their homes because it could not mitigate noise to an acceptable level. Mrs Courtney and her husband Phil have lived in Bridge St since 1981 and have spent more than $50,000 renovating their house as a retirement nest egg. They planned to sell up in another seven years or so and retire to Nelson. They were aware the airport would eventually table an offer to buy their house before 2030, as foreshadowed in its master plan. But the couple figured they had another 15 years or so up their sleeve. And while that may still be the case, Mrs Courtney says the news this week that 22 houses around hers will begin disappearing as soon as next month, means she and handful of others will soon be living in a “wasteland”. That would decrease the visual appeal and safety of the street Read More …