Puketāpapa Local Board member Brendan Larmer said he walked through the area after constituents raised concerns and felt it didn’t look safe.
The rock garden’s been described as “ugly as” and a “whimsical design gone wrong”. Photo / Brendan Larmer
“I understand someone on a scooter had a nasty and unfortunate near incident after tripping on the rocks.”
The rocks were installed as part of a wider upgrade to the area, roundabout with two raised zebra crossings and a signalised mid-block pedestrian crossing.
AT said it identified the rocks were not installed in accordance with the original design specifications.
“Our observations confirmed that they were effectively achieving our safety objective, so we elected to continue monitoring the site following construction.”
Some of the rocks became dislodged. Photo / Brendan Larmer
The agency said the decision to replace the rock garden with a landscaped garden with low-growing plants came after a number of ongoing safety and maintenance issues emerged.
It said it would “provide a more sustainable and visually appealing outcome while continuing to support the intended pedestrian movements through the area”.
Larmer said he didn’t want to throw anyone under the bus but he’s glad the rock garden had been removed.
“I’m happy it’s landed in a good spot and we’ve listened to the community and got a good outcome. In our area, there’s a lot of flooding so having vegetation to mop it up is not a bad idea.”
Jacob Jones is a Newstalk ZB reporter working out of the Auckland newsroom. He has an interest in council and local government issues.