The Star: May 25, 2017

The Star Latest Christchurch news at www. .kiwi
Thursday May 25 2017 3
News
In Brief
Residents
want the
Suit Doctor
to move out
• By Julia Evans
MARK VAN Roosmalen ran a
well-known tailor’s business on
Manchester St for more than 23
years before the February 22,
2011, earthquake destroyed the
building.
But the tailor is now
proving not so popular with
his neighbours in suburban
Fendalton.
Mr van Roosmalen, 59, has
been operating his business out
of a rented house in Otara St for
the past two years.
During that time he has
received numerous complaints
from people in the area
including the Hamilton Ave and
Otara St Residents’ Association
upset by commercial activity on
the street.
But Mr van Roosmalen said
the group is just a bunch of busy
bodies trying to get rid of him.
“I really don’t know what’s got
up these people’s noses,” Mr van
Roosmalen said.
Now the residents’ association
has upped the ante and has
made a bid to close his suburban
business down by approaching
the Fendalton-Waimairi-
Harewood Community
Board.
Doug Archbold, chairman of
the residents’ association, made
a deputation to the board and
said the tailor’s operations were
illegal.
Said Mr van Roosmalen:
“That’s how it started – they
tried to say it was illegal, but of
course it’s not. Then they just
kept coming back with more
and more issues.”
Special legislation was developed
by Parliament to enable
Needle over tailor business
STITCH IN TIME: Fendalton tailor Mark van Roosmalen’s
business has received numerous complaints from the local
residents’ association. (Above right) – Mr van Roosmalen’s
former premises in Manchester St. PHOTO: MARTIN HUNTER
displaced businesses to temporarily
relocate to the suburbs
after the earthquakes.
Following the deputation,
city council staff investigated
and found the business was
operating legally.
Mr Archbold said the outcome
was “pathetic.”
Community board chairman
David Cartwright said the
board’s “hands are tied” as
regulatory compliance works as
an independent body from the
city council.
But he said the board is
hearing the community’s
concern.
Mr Archbold said it isn’t so
much the tailor itself that the
residents are concerned about
but the precedent it sets for
other businesses.
“If you let the tailor in, what’s
next?” he said.
He said it’s a wider city issue
of businesses being pushed out
of the central city and into the
suburbs, but residents on Otara
St feel they are being swamped
by commercial activity.
“It could be a fruit shop, any
shop. We don’t like it in our
street,” Mr Archbold said.
He compared it to the funeral
home that Fendalton residents
in Rochdale St are protesting.
The house is opposite
Fendalton Village Shopping
Centre, which includes a New
World supermarket, optometrist
and a bank.
Mr van Roosmalen said it is
these businesses bringing all
the traffic to the neighbourhood
not customers getting suit
alterations.
“We have plenty of off-street
parking and some days we go
without any customers at all,”
he said.
He wants the whole situation
put to bed so he can get on with
business as usual.
“I’ve had other neighbours tell
me how great it is having a tailor
nearby,” he said.
PLUMBER RESCUED
FROM UNDER FLOOR
Firefighters were called to
an Islington property after a
plumber became trapped under
the floorboards of a house. The
Sockburn crew had to cut up
part of the floor to release the
tradesman who was almost
certainly not amused, fire
investigator Mark Thomas said.
The man was unhurt and a
small section of the floor
was removed so he could be
freed.
HOUSE BUY-UP
FOR FLOOD PLAN
The city council will look to
purchase seven properties on
the corner of Anzac Dr and
Pages Rd, Bexley, as part of an
$11 million flood reduction
plan. However, some property
owners don’t want to sell.
Ground levels in some areas
have dropped by up to 1m in
the Knight’s Drain catchment,
putting houses at greater flood
risk due to earthquake-related
land damage. The city council
must purchase all 13 properties
to progress the flood reduction
plan. It currently owns five of
them, while the other seven are
occupied. The flood reduction
plan is currently out for
consultation. Public feedback
will be open until June 7
RESIDENTS ONLY
PARKING DECISION
A controversial plan to make
car owners pay to park on
Clifton Tce, Sumner, has been
delayed after mixed responses
from residents. The city council
proposed to put four ‘residents
only’ parking spots on Clifton
Tce following concerns over
difficulty finding a park on the
narrow road. Residents would
have to pay a yearly fee to be
able to park there under the
plan. A decision was meant
to be made by the Linwood-
Central-Heathcote Community
Board last week, but has been
held off until a site visit can be
done.
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