Plans for the new Waiheke marina. Photo / supplied
Opponents of Waiheke's first commercial marina have lodged an application for a HIgh Court appeal, saying Māori were not heard.
Local residents' group SKP Inc has issued a statement saying that on January 24, it filed a notice of appeal against the Environment Court which has allowed the marina to go ahead.
"SKP's rehearing application had focused on new Māori cultural evidence of the Ngāti Pāoa Trust Board. That new evidence is that Ngāti Pāoa does not support the marina and that as a result, the Environment Court should grant a rehearing to properly consider this new and important Māori cultural evidence," SKP said.
Ngāti Pāoa is an iwi of the Hauraki region, its traditional lands stretching from the western side of the Hauraki Plains to Auckland.
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But Kitt Littlejohn, Kennedy Point Boatharbour's legal and planning director, vowed that construction of the new marina would begin in April and the action would make no difference to plans for the 181-berth marina.
"The High Court is taking six to nine months to grant a fixture. The existing resource consent is not under challenge. It's able to be exercised and that's what we will be doing. If they want to try and stop the project, they will have to do so quickly but our consent enables us to press on and building the marina, regardless of the appeal," LIttlejohn said.
On December 13, the Environment Court refused an application by opponents, clearing the way for the project to go ahead. Principal Environment Court Judge Laurie Newhook, sitting with two commissioners, rejected the SKP Incorporated application to the hear the matter again because of new issues arising.
SKP said the new evidence was important and had it been presented to the Environment Court, the marina proposal could have been declined.
"The appeal centres around allegations that the Environment Court made several mistakes of law in that it applied the wrong test in assessing SKP's rehearing application," the group said.
SKP also claims that court incorrectly applied western standards in its review of the rehearing application when it should have assessed the new cultural evidence from a Tikanga Māori perspective and Māori world-view.
"To this end, SKP assert the Environment Court should have granted SKP's request to have a Māori Land Court judge sit on the rehearing application. SKP alleges that these errors led to the Environment Court wrongly refusing to grant a rehearing. These matters are now before the High Court for its consideration," SKP said.
Littlejohn said Kennedy Point Marina had already sold around 65 per cent of the project and many sales had occurred just in the last few days.
Berths start at $180,000 but get more expensive the closer they are to land and the longer they are, but a top price has not been disclosed.
Neither has a total project cost been released, but if berths sell for an average $400,000 each, the project could be worth $72m.
Mair said late last year that starting the project had been a battle.
"We got consent in May 2017. It was appealed to the Environment Court, then [opponents] went to the High Court and lost, back to the Environment Court and lost and the Māori Land Court and lost," Mair said in December.