Proposed rules to loosen up development opportunities on Matakana Island have been attacked for being "skewed towards certain Maori interests".
The accusation was levelled yesterday by Cathryn Faulkner whose father and uncle bought a 149-hectare block in the 1920s and began planting pine trees.
Ms Faulkner joined another family member and former city councillor Bill Faulkner in criticism of the Western Bay of Plenty District Council's draft planning change for Matakana.
She said the family never envisaged it would have ever-increasing restrictions retrospectively applied to their freehold land. "This plan diminishes forest owners' property rights and devalues their land," she said. Ms Faulkner said there is Maori- and Pakeha-owned rural zoned land on Matakana Island. "They are in similar circumstances and yet the council has no qualms about granting superior privileges and rights to Maori."
The Faulkner family is in a joint venture partnership with Tauranga property developer Carrus Corp. The family opposes being restricted to one dwelling per 40 hectares, which is the council's rule for rural land subdivision in the district.