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An independent commissioner has ruled that a resource consent application by the owners of the shut-down Gulf Harbour Country Club will be publicly notified.
The decision means that the public will be able to make submissions on a proposal to split the 89 hectare site in two. The owners say they want to sell one portion, comprising 42 percent of the total.
Country club owner Long River Investments made the application last November, four months after it closed the facility.
Now that a decision to publicly notify the consent has been made, the applicant can choose whether to continue with the process, or withdraw the application. Last week Long River Investments director Wayne Bailey said that the company “will be proceeding” with the application. He declined to comment further.
The lobby group Keep Whangaparāoa’s Green Spaces (KWGS) welcomed the decision to notify and said it planned to help individuals make submissions.
KWGS believes that the owner plans to rezonethe land for development, despite an encumbrance protecting the site as open space for 999 years.
In her March 14 decision, commissioner Vanessa Wilkinson cited “unusual circumstances” surrounding the bid – the history of the site, its zoning and the encumbrance – and strong public interest.
Her ruling went against a council planner’s view that notification was not necessary.
The application is for a boundary change to split the site into two – a roughly 37.5ha section north of Gulf Harbour Drive, and a section of just over 51.3ha. The application states that the company wants to sell the northern part and use the proceeds to redevelop the golf course on the remaining land.
In its application, Long River Investments said that once the northern section was sold, it wouldn’t be possible to accommodate an 18-hole course on the remaining land. As a result, it would look to buy adjoining land, at 3-5 Daisy Burrell Drive, for which contracts to purchase “are in place”.
However, the owner of that land, Hopper Developments, denied plans to sell (HM November 27, 2023). Hoppers began earthworks in January for an 88-home residential subdivision on that site.
In her decision, Wilkinson noted that no copies of contracts with Hoppers were provided. She pointed out that “works may have commenced on the site, calling into question the ability to purchase and use this land as the applicant suggests”.
With this in mind, KWGS spokesperson Howard Baldwin said Auckland Council should decline Long River Investments’ application, since “the rationale for the boundary change is flawed and no longer relevant”.
No dates for the public submission process have yet been set, while council awaits confirmation that the applicant wishes to proceed.
