Philippa Stevenson: Taupo developers wait in wings

COMMENT

The ink is barely dry on the first of the cheques to be signed in hope of stemming the decline of Lake Taupo, but already new pressures are coming on the national icon.

Two weeks ago the Government kicked in $37 million for research on the high nitrogen levels in Taupo that contribute to its deterioration.

Joining taxpayers in the carrot-and-stick package - it will also encourage landowners to cut nitrogen levels and beef up regulations to ensure they do - are the region's ratepayers, who will stump up $27 million through Environment Waikato and $18 million under the Taupo District Council.

All up, the bill over the next 15 years is expected to top $143 million just to start dealing with our polluting effects on the jewel of the North Island.

As a drop of water falling in Taupo's catchment can take up to 80 years to reach the lake, we have no idea how bad things are going to get before we, hopefully, begin to make a difference.

An Environment Waikato report last year said that "because of the time lag between what happens on the land and its effect on the lake, it is only in recent years that the impact of the large-scale land conversion from the 1950s has been seen in the lake."

Farming is targeted as the main source of the silt and nutrients that cloud the lake and cause weed, slime and algae to grow, but housing, with its sewage waste and stormwater, is also a big contributor.


Only a week after Environment Minister Marian Hobbs confirmed funds for lake protection, Taupo people had their heads in one of the most significant documents the town will discuss in many a day - the proposed Taupo West Rural Structure Plan.

Driven by property developers keen to cash in on the lake's attractions, the district council last week produced the document intended to guide land subdivision creating more than 3300 house sites between Acacia Bay and Kinloch over the next 20 years.

Significantly, the proposal deals with what amounts to a new small town on the lake's fragile edge, but is also expected to be a template for all future similar development plans.

Community consultation started a year ago after developers and the council agreed to a moratorium on development. Submissions on the plan are due at the end of the month, but at a public meeting last night the council was expected to signal that it would extend the deadline.

The plan suggests clusters of houses will reduce the amount of roads and other services needed and allow the "internalising of environmental effects" - or making each housing pocket deal with its own waste on site.

Some areas have been designated no-go zones, others earmarked for either low, medium or high density settlement depending on the fragility of the environment or its nearness to the lake. Section sizes would range from 3000sq m in the high-density zone to 8000sq m in low density.

Cost estimates for just two essential services - water reticulation and waste disposal - indicate the area is going to be a rich person's preserve.

But is this the right time to contemplate such major development on Lake Taupo's shores?

In a survey four years ago, 90 per cent of Taupo residents rated preserving the lake's water quality as the area's most important issue. Seventy-eight per cent wanted lake protection ahead of development.

Taupo west resident Chris Marshall reflected the view this week. "The approach seems to be 'where can we stick the development' rather than looking at the lake first."

He acknowledges he's already contributing to the lake's burden, but with the regional and district councils yet to put lake protection into law in plan variations, he wonders whether things are going too fast.

Maori landowner Tom Walters was buoyed by a positive meeting with the council but says that the Tuwharetoa iwi, which owns the bulk of the land around the lake edge, is in a tight spot.

The iwi would like to develop its land but faces many hurdles before it can. Now it worries that if it is the last cab off the rank in the development stakes it will be most penalised by environmental restrictions.

Taupo deputy mayor Christine McElwee says the structure plan is a solid attempt to balance development and conservation.

* pippa@stevenson.net.nz

Taupo District Council

Taupo-nui-a-Tia

Environment Waikato