Hopes hearing will be the last

AFTER almost 20 years of working through planning bureaucracy, an Orokonui property owner hopes he has seen his last resource consent hearing.

Russell and Suzanne Butson have applied for resource consent to subdivide 7.2ha of land on the site of the former Orokonui Hospital near Waitati.

Two previous resource consents for smaller subdivisions, one in 2001 and the other in 2012, have already been granted.

Separate hearings had to be held in each case because of a small gully which runs through the property.

Under the Dunedin City Council’s district plan, the gully is considered a waterway as it carries runoff during heavy rain, meaning it requires an esplanade strip.

As there are no ecological or cultural values associated with the gully, the requirement was waived both times.

Because a new application has been made to increase the number of lots on the site, a hearing needs to be held next month even though there are no opposing applications.

Mr Butson said he hoped this would be the last hearing on the matter but was not completely confident it would be.

He did not blame the council or previous hearings committees for the setbacks but felt the issue showed the Resource Management Act was not always easy to work with.

At the 2012 hearing, council planner Lianne Darby recommended the esplanade strip requirement be waived permanently but the hearings committee decided due process needed to be followed each time there was a change to the consent.

Ms Darby has recommended the waiver again be granted.

In her report, she noted under the proposed secondgeneration plan, which is being finalised, there was no requirement for an esplanade strip at the site, so it was unlikely the issue would need to be revisited in the future.