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Kaipara District Council has accepted an application for a private plan change to rezone almost 60 hectares of rural land north-west of Mangawhai Heads, for residential development.
Council district planner Paul Waanders told last month’s monthly meeting in Mangawhai that the 56.9 hectare site, east of Cove Road and north of Mangawhai Heads Road, would account for around 380 sections, with an average lot size of 600 square metres.
The plan change is being sought by landowners The Rise Limited (TRL). It said in its application that it “envisages that the proposed plan change will provide viable and sustainable residential development which integrates with surrounding residential uses and provides residential capacity and growth opportunities within Mangawhai”.
Mayor Craig Jepson declared a conflict of interest and stood aside for consideration of the agenda item.
The mayor, a Mangawhai businessman for the past two decades, was listed as an inactive director of TRL from November 2018 until October 25, 2022 (shortly after his election), and as a shareholder from November 2018 until January 31 this year.
Councillor Mark Vincent likened the council accepting the plan change application to a vet examining a horse before a race to see if it’s fit to run.
He stressed that the council was not being asked to “adopt” the plan change – which, in keeping with his allegory, would amount to the council putting money on the horse.
“All we’re doing is the vet check,” Vincent said. “I have no particular opinion about the merits of this application other than that we observe the process correctly at this point.”
The council accepted the plan change request, instructing the chief executive to publicly notify the change, and for a public consultation process to begin on July 25 and run until August 23.
Councillor Ash Nayyar voted against the motion, after expressing the view that the process was overly hasty. He also said he was concerned about the Mayor’s conflict of interest, although he did not elaborate.
Invited to do so after the meeting, Nayyar voiced broad concerns about decisions impacting infrastructure.
“As a new councillor and a ratepayer, I am carrying the burden of bad decisions on infrastructure issues in the past and do not want any repeats,” he said, citing as an example the contentious Mangawhai wastewater scheme.
“The Kaipara council has not much room left for developments unless we can promise the infrastructure to cope with it,” he said. “This decision worries me more as the mayor is an experienced developer and is currently in the process of rezoning from rural to residential 60 odd hectares in a development not far away from Mangawhai Central. In this he has clearly got a conflict of interest in a development, which seems to be happening at rocket speed.”
Jepson told the paper after the meeting that he has no current involvement in the company.
“I am a beneficiary in a trust which owns shares in TRL,” he said. “Consequently, I remove myself from any decision-making that relates to TRL.”
