By Simon Hendery
The developers of a $100 million beachfront subdivision at Omaha South, northeast of Warkworth, have asked the Rodney District Council to fast-track approval for the development.
Manapouri Investments told the council yesterday that subjecting its upmarket, 339-home development to public submissions would delay completion by two years.
Under the
Resource Management Act, the council can bypass a public notification and submission process if it is satisfied a development will have only a minor effect on the environment.
But a report prepared by a council consultant said the provisions of the act, combined with a recent Court of Appeal decision, meant the Omaha South project had to be notified because its environmental effects could not be considered minor.
Developer John Darby told the council's resource consents committee that Manapouri had already spent two years consulting Omaha landowners and others affected by the project, and notification would cause a further two-year delay. "New Zealand would be grinding to a halt if the [Court of Appeal decision] was taken to its extreme interpretation," he said.
The committee deferred making a decision until Manapouri was able to supply details of the consultation it had undertaken with the Department of Conservation and a neighbouring landowner.
Beachfront sections at Omaha South, 75km north of Auckland, have been selling for an average of $591,000.
The 142ha development will include upgrading the Omaha golf course from nine holes to 18.
A condition of consents being granted will be that the landowners hand over 110ha to the council for reserves, including a nearby 53ha kahikatea forest, described by the Auckland Regional Council as nationally significant.
Manapouri planner Karen Price told the Rodney council meeting yesterday that all environmental issues relating to the project had been thrashed out with affected parties in the lead-up to establishing a special district plan zone for the development.
The council granted the zone application in February.
Among conditions imposed were that Manapouri monitor the effect of the development on the kahikatea forest.
