Residents? fury at zoning plan

Carterton residents are vowing to fight a plan to rezone 140ha of rural land alongside SH2 to make room for a giant industrial park. They tell reporter MARLENE DITCHFIELD the rezoning will ruin the scenic beauty and is being steamrollered through without enough public consultation.
Plans for a major industrial park south of Waingawa between Carterton and Masterton, which has the potential for wall to wall industry lining the western side of State Highway 2 and up Wiltons Road, has residents in the area up in arms vowing to fight the proposal.
The draft combined district plan being formulated by the three Wairarapa district councils suggests 140ha of rural zoned land be re-zoned industrial.
Not only are residents concerned about what is proposed across the road from their rural properties in Wiltons Road, they are scratching their heads over why some have had letters from the Carterton District Council and others have not.
Not so, says Milan Hautler the council's planning and regulatory manager.
He says around 15 properties that are immediately affected by the re-zoning have been sent letters. He said the council also produced a brochure about the proposed combined district plan and this was delivered to mailboxes in the Carterton district before Christmas last year.
The proposed land use change was advertised in the Times-Age once also before Christmas.
But Lesley and Michael Evans on Wiltons Road say they have not seen anything. "I'm always interested in what's going on around me and I'm sure I would have taken notice of something this major," Mrs Evans said.
They bought their 30ha in Wilton Road in 1994.
"It was our rural dream. We spent a long time looking for a property that had lovely country views, somewhere we could bring up our children," she said.
"This industrial development has left us feeling sick."
From her home, their views to the north take in land that the industrial park proposes including a new entrance way. The area includes two wetland areas, which are home to various birdlife, according to Mrs Evans.
"What's going to happen to them? Environmentally is could be a disaster for these ponds and the stream that feeds them." She's also concerned about their water supply, which relies on rainwater. "With proposed industry close by, it's a real worry."
What has really got Mrs Evans going however, is the lack of information about the proposed change in land use.
"The first we learned of all this was from our neighbour Justine Redfern-Olsen, who received a letter from the council last week."
The letter was dated October 20, but the Olsens did not open it until after Labour weekend. "We just thought it was the latest rates bill and so it sat around for a few days unopened," Mrs Redfern-Olsen said.
To find out more, Mrs Evans had to ring the council and ask for a copy of the letter. Since then, the two women have scoured their immediate neighbours to find out if they knew of a proposed meeting last evening, and of 10 quizzed, the only other property to say they had seen the letter were Eric and Gina Stolte.
The letter from Mr Hautler was to the attention of property owners in the "Waingawa industrial area" seeking the views of residents along the state highway and in Wiltons Road, which would be affected by the industrial development.
Members of the council's joint planning committee were inviting residents to take part in a special meeting yesterday at 5pm to discuss the proposal "informally", according to Mr Hautler.
Masterton Mayor Bob Francis chaired the meeting, as the proposal is one that all three Wairarapa councils have an interest in under the proposed joint district plan. The Times-Age was told it could not attend and report on the meeting as it was for residents only and was classed as a "workshop" and not a public meeting.
Mr Hautler said once the informal discussions have finished, the formal process towards establishing Wairarapa's joint district plan will begin in earnest when public submissions are called in February 2006.
Other activity afoot in the Waingawa area is the purchase of the former Waingawa Freezing Works water treatment infrastructure by the Carterton District Council.
Council chief executive Kieran Shaw did not want to elaborate any further on the deal until the agreement was "signed and sealed" but promised a detailed outline of the council's proposal later in the week.