Southern View: September 26, 2017

SOUTHERN VIEW Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Tuesday September 26 2017 5
News
Studholme St residents fail
to stop two-storey units
•From page 1
Because of that, it no longer
required resource consent, so
consultation was not needed.
It has gained building consent.
Studholme St resident Marty
Flanagan said they still wanted
to fight the development, but it
would have to
go through the
courts and that
could be costly.
The site used
to be home to a
three-bedroom
Marty
Flanagan
bungalow.
But following
the earthquakes,
the zoning on that
side of the street was changed
to residential suburban density
transition as part of the new
District Plan.
The zone allows for higher
density development.
“All of these got snuck through
the District Plan change just after
the earthquakes and it wasn’t
really communicated clearly
enough,” Mr Flanagan said.
He said the District Plan gave
all the “power” to the developers.
“It’s going to turn Somerfield
into a Riccarton or a Sydenham,”
he said.
NO WAY: Somerfield residents have been opposed to the
development on Studholme St since they found out about it.
“If we wanted to live 10ft from
our neighbours, we would have
bought somewhere like that.”
A spokeswoman for Multay
Developments director Warren
Taylor said he did not want to
comment.
The situation is similar to one
on Spreydon’s Bolton Ave, where
five two-storey townhouses are
being built just metres away from
Kim Mehlhopt’s home of 15
years, without consultation.
She said it will devalue her
home and cost her privacy and
quality of life.
City councillor Phil Clearwater
said both situations were
“unacceptable” and he wanted a
change in legislation allowing the
District Plan to be altered.
Spreydon-Cashmere Community
Board chairwoman Karolin
Potter said both situations were
terrible.
“You can’t call them houses,
they’re just future dumps. Huge,
blocky, ugly and horrible,” she
said. “It’s bloody hard when the
District Plan allows it to happen.”
• By Andrew King
A LAWYER by day and
champion boxer by night, meet
Sunny Teki-Clark.
Fresh from capturing the
under-81kg elite title at the New
Zealand Boxing Championships
last week, the 28-year-old was
then using his verbal jab to defend
people in the district court
last Monday.
“I actually didn’t have too
many bruises when I turned up
for work on Monday, which was
a good thing,” he said with a
cheeky grin yesterday.
Teki-Clark fought Tyson
Sykes, of Rotorua, for The
George Bush Memorial Trophy
– the same opponent he took on
last year and lost. This year he
won on points.
“He told me after the bout,
BOXING
SMART: Sunny
Teki-Clark has
a New Zealand
title under his
belt. PHOTO:
MARTIN
HUNTER ​
Lawyer goes from Somerfield
gym to NZ boxing title-holder
you were too sharp Sunny. He
has mentioned turning pro but
I would like a decider before he
does that,” he said.
Teki-Clark fights out of
Bells Boxing Club on Rose St,
Somerfield. Originally from
Wanganui, he said he spent his
high school years playing rugby,
but boxing was never far from
his mind.
He studied law at Canterbury
University and now works for
the Public Defence Service, taking
on clients who have found
themselves on the wrong side of
the law.
Teki-Clark’s reputation has
done the rounds, with some of
the people he defends asking
him if he was a boxer.
“I have never had a client actually
assault me. Plus I’m quite
tall so that might put them off.”
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