Evidence ‘strongly favours’ Kākā Valley rezoning, says judge
An Environment Court judge has given a preliminary view that the evidence strongly favours rezoning Nelson’s Kākā Valley.
After a three-day hearing in Nelson, Judge John Hassan said yesterday afternoon that the court’s preliminary view was that the evidence “strongly favours” rezoning Kākā Valley in accordance with a structure plan proposed by developers.
At the centre of the hearing was Private Plan Change 28 that would rezone approximately 287-hectares of land, providing for around 900 homes, more than 50% of which would be in Kākā Valley itself.
The Environment Court hearing followed Save the Maitai’s appeal against a Nelson City Council decision to adopt Plan Change 28, allowing the subdivision to go ahead.
Environment Judge John Hassan said a “sleeves up” drafting hearing was anticipated, in which counsel, planners and members of the court engaged.
The judge said the court considered that effective integrated management would include stormwater, erosion and sediment control, and hazard management, freshwater ecology, and kaitiakitanga, considering the evidence of Hemi Toia, the chief executive of the commercial arm of Ngāti Koata.
What remains in the air is the whether the National Policy Statement on Highly Productive Land pertains to part of the site, and the court will have to make a determination on that in future.
Counsel for Save the Maitai Sally Gepp argued there was an “information gap” when it came to the problems that would be created by earthworks.
That the earthworks would require resource consent was not in dispute, she said: “It’s just whether that’s enough.”
On Thursday, an expert told the court that an attempt to estimate the effects of earthworks associated with the private plan change proposed for Kākā Valley would be “guesswork”.
Sediment and erosion control expert Graeme Ridley said in his experience, slope angle was the primary driver for sediment generation, not soil types.
On Thursday, engineering geologist Mark Foley said the dominant rock types at the site did not weather to sandy and silty soils that were easily erodible by rainfall.
However, Ridley said geotechnical issues were only one factor.
Soil types impacted sediment yield assessments in that if the soil had fine silt and clay, that would be reflected in the sediment generation and sediment yield, he said.
Ridley explained that clay particles were “very small particles” that travelled down the receiving environment to coastal environments
“I’m confused about what percentage of clay is in the subsoil, because I read the number of 20%,” he said, adding that he had heard Foley use the figure of 2%.
Ridley said he had not seen any particle size analysis for the subsoils.
Most successful projects would take a proactive approach, an upfront process that would include rules and provisions and management around the risk, he said.
Planner Daniel Kinnoch, who also appeared as a witness, told the court that a plan change was not consenting an activity, but “creating an activity within a planning framework”.
“Plan provisions where they require a resource consent are not enabling that activity carte blanche,” he said, “there’s still a process to go through.”
Walters Bluff resident Richard English represented himself at the hearing, opposing a road connection to Walters Bluff Rd.
The noise generated by vehicles travelling uphill was louder than that travelling on the flat, and as noise travelled uphill, it would affect the whole area, he said.
Transportation engineer Gary Clark said the council’s plans to link Walters Bluff with the ridge pre-dated the plan change.
Asked by the applicant’s counsel John Maassen if he shared English’s concerns about capacity, Clark said he did not. He said English double counted the assessment, and “added another 300 vehicles to the mix”.
Around 28% of vehicles would come through Walters Bluff, which was not the shortest route to the city, Clark said.
An expert told the court that an attempt to estimate the effects of earthworks associated with the private plan change proposed for Kaka Valley would be “guesswork”.