Buyers warned off university's land

By ANNE BESTON

Potential buyers are being warned off a slice of prime coastal land gifted to the University of Auckland to help fund an expanded business school.

The university is facing increasing pressure to strike a deal over the Waikawau Bay property, donated by American millionaire banker Paul Kelly. The university has put the land up for sale with a price tag of around $3.5 million.

But environmental lobby group the Environmental Defence Society is warning potential buyers it will strongly oppose any plan to carve up the 149ha property at the remote northern end of the Coromandel Peninsula.

The university-owned land runs down to the water's edge at the far northern end of the bay. Because the Department of Conservation already owns the rest of the beachfront, Waikawau Bay is virtually untouched by development.

Conservation Minister Chris Carter, Thames Coromandel District Mayor Chris Lux and EDS are all urging the university to either hand it over to the Department of Conservation outright or sell it at a knock-down price.

Conservationist Gary Taylor, chairman of EDS, said he had already warned off one potential buyer who approached EDS asking what its attitude to subdivision would be.

"We are warning prospective purchasers not to buy the property with the expectation of subdivision because we will be opposing any efforts to subdivide it, it's a case of buyer beware," Mr Taylor said.

The man, a New Zealander, sounded out both the society and DoC on a possible development involving up to 20 houses. He was told both would oppose that kind of development through the resource consent process.

The property is already in four titles but four separate dwellings on the land was still too much, Mr Taylor said.

Conservation Minister Chris Carter has also begun putting pressure on the university, calling its intention to sell off the property to the highest bidder "outrageous".

He has called for an urgent report on the ecological and conservation values of the land but he also admits that his department had been down that road some years ago and couldn't justify buying it then.

"DoC had the chance to buy it for a lot less money but still couldn't justify it under the unique landscape criteria," Mr Carter said.

"It's a wonderful landscape but unfortunately it's also a wonderful price."

There were a lot of demands on conservation money and the university should do the decent thing. He would write to them in the next few days and tell them so, he said.

Auckland University registrar Warwick Nicoll would not comment on whether the university was concerned a conservation campaign would undermine its ability to get a good price.

"The property is for sale by tender and I am not going to disrupt that sale process by making a comment on any of these sorts of propositions, certainly not through the media anyway," he said.

Herald feature: Environment