Lion Park and Zoo, Whangarei North

Client: Country Developments, Ltd (trading as “Zion Wildlife Park”)

Dean’s client in this case was the subject of complaints from local residents about the level of traffic the site was generating on the unsealed, no-exit road (Gray Road) that leads to the site. Council staff recommended approval of the proposal, but one of the conditions was not economically viable – the widening and sealing of more than a kilometre of Gray Road.

Using a combination of the statistical analysis of meetings of opposing vehicles on that section of Gray Road and historic records of crashes on existing roads of similar width, Dean was successful in reducing the condition to local widening and bank trimming at three isolated locations (and no sealing). This resulted in a saving to his client of at least $200,000.