Heated debate over Maitai subdivision
After a ‘‘fractious’’ debate Nelson councillors have supported seeking government funding to upgrade infrastructure for a 700-home housing development in the Maitai Valley and Atawhai hills.
During annual plan deliberations, the Nelson City Council gave its support to an application for $25 million through the Crown Infrastructure Fund, to upgrade council infrastructure to support the new development.
The application would include infrastructure upgrades for existing neighbourhoods, as well as the possible 700 houses that could be built in the Maitai Valley and Atawhai.
The application has been made to the Crown Infrastructure Partners Fund (CIPF), which is helping to kickstart the post-Covid economy by investing in shovelready projects.
The decision was not unanimous, passing 10 to one with councillor Matt Lawrey voting against the recommendation (councillors Yvonne Bowater and Mel Courtney were not present for the vote).
Lawrey said there had not been enough information provided to council to be able to go forward with the decision.
He said while most planned subdivisions do not come before council at this early stage, this was an extraordinary situation where the character of the Maitai Valley could be permanently changed.
‘‘Everyone wants to get stuff done in The Wood, they want central city infrastructure fixed. It seems to me it is being pitched that the price of that is 550 houses up the Maitai.
‘‘If you let the genie out of the bottle, you’ll find it very hard to get it back in.’’
Speaking in support of the recommendation, councillor Tim Skinner said he was ‘‘bamboozled’’ by some councillors’ change of heart. Skinner said the development ticked the boxes for the council’s strategy of creating more affordable housing and reducing pressure on the transport system.
‘‘It’s something I thought the council were falling over themselves for.
‘‘It fell into our laps, in an area where we’re often struggling for space to develop near to the city.’’
Skinner said he was frustrated with the lack of consensus, and the seeming turnaround in attitudes from some members of the council.
‘‘All I can put it down to is political party interests coming before Nelson city and community interests.’’
Deputy mayor Judene Edgar, who also voted in support of the recommendation, said it was disappointing that the initiative shown by the developers to engage with council early might have worked against them.
Edgar said through a normal subdivision process the development work might have gone unnoticed by the public for months or even years.
‘‘It just feels that it would put people off coming to us early – part of that engaging early gives that opportunity to work through any environmental concerns.’’
Edgar said the Resource Management Act process was ‘‘phenomenally robust’’, with any more than minor environmental effects having to be avoided, mitigated or managed.
While councillors Rachel Sanson and Rohan O’Neill-Stevens raised some concerns about the way the process had been handled, both voted in support of the proposal.
Mayor Rachel Reese said the area had been earmarked for a long time by council and through public consultation as a site for future land development.
She said the debate had been a ‘‘long and very fractious exercise’’ about an issue that was totally aligned with the strategy of the council.
‘‘Very few of you still don’t think it’s an area you want to see developed.
‘‘But there is a point, in my view as mayor, where you have to accept the council’s decisions after public consultation, that some things in the future may change. And you may not like them, but that does not mean they are wrong, and it means sometimes they bring pretty amazing benefits.’’