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A divided Kaipara District Council has adopted a hearing panel’s recommendation to advance a private plan change to rezone 56.9 hectares of rural land east of Cove Road and north of Mangawhai Heads Road, to provide for hundreds of new homes on the town’s north-west fringe.
At a June 28 meeting, members voted by 5-4 to adopt the recommendation of the three-person panel, which found that Private Plan Change 83 (PPC83) would create a sustainable built environment, effectively integrating infrastructure, ecological issues, “sense of place” and transport choices.
Site owners, The Rise Limited (TRL), proposes a development of around 380 sections, with an average lot size of 600 square metres. Its application said it envisaged that the proposed plan change would “provide viable and sustainable residential development which integrates with surrounding residential uses and provides residential capacity and growth opportunities within Mangawhai”.
The area was signalled for future urban growth in council’s Mangawhai Spatial Plan.
PPC83 was notified on July 25 last year, with public submissions invited in August and further submissions in October. A total of 72 submissions were received. Some raised concerns about pressure on Mangawhai’s wastewater system, increased traffic congestion, ecological impact and potential flooding risk.
The panel, comprising independent commissioners David Hill and Justine Bray and Kaiwaka-Mangawhai ward Councillor Mike Howard, presided at public hearings at the Mangawhai Bowling Club in March.
Council said that conditions relating to the ‘Cove Road North Precinct’ development would be incorporated as part of any future resource consent processes.
Ahead of the vote, a council staff report said the option of adopting the panel’s recommendation avoided any actual and possible perceived council predetermination or bias, and would help protect council and ratepayers from any potential judicial review of the process followed.
The private plan change process is set out in the Resource Management Act 1991. The decision will be open to appeal to the Environment Court, for a period of one month.
The vote split the council, with Crs Howard, Gordon Lambeth, Jonathan Larsen, Ron Manderson and Mark Vincent voting in favour of the measure, and Crs Ihapera Paniora, Eryn Wilson-Collins, Rachael Williams and Ash Nayyar opposing it.
Mayor Craig Jepson, a former TRL shareholder and inactive director, declared a conflict of interest at the outset of the process a year ago, and removed himself from any decision-making relating to the proposed project.
