Shelly Bay consent saga continues

A NEW resource consent for a development at Wellington’s Shelly Bay is expected to be lodged soon.

The former air force base is derelict, the wharf is in pieces and the buildings are covered in peeling paint.

The master plan development to give the ‘‘jewel in Miramar Peninsula’s crown’’ a new lease on life includes about 300 homes, a boutique hotel and a large village green.

But it is a plan that has been bogged down in legal action led by Enterprise Miramar Peninsula Incorporated, first in the High Court and then in the Court of Appeal.

The new consent application comes amid revelations that Enterprise Miramar has received at least $250,000 in donations, and noone seems to know where much of it has come from.

The consent is also being lodged after the latest court ruling quashed a decision granting previous resource consent.

The project faces the threat of legal action on another front, from a group representing Taranaki Whanui iwi members who voted not to sell Shelly Bay to developer Ian Cassels in the first place.

The Wellington Company has partnered with the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust to develop Shelly Bay.

Developers are largely resubmitting the previous consent application but with further evidence to double down on their rationale for the project on Miramar Peninsula.

In a decision released late last year, the Court of Appeal found Wellington City Council made an error of law in its interpretation and application of a section of the Housing Accords and Special Housing Act when granting resource consent.

As a result, matters such as the environmental effects of the proposed development were not given appropriate consideration by the council.

This is after Enterprise Miramar first challenged the council’s decision to approve resource consent in the High Court, but lost.

The development itself could take up to 13 years.

Development director Earl HopePearson said the site was significantly challenged in terms of its infrastructure and buildings. Many had been vacated and were at the end of their useful life, such as Shed 8, which was subsiding into the sea.

‘‘Something has to be done. A lot of people have looked at Shelly Bay over the years and I believe the proposal that we have here today is probably the most feasible solution to the Shelly Bay question,’’ Mr HopePearson said.

But some heritage buildings would be saved, including the Shipwrights and Officers’ Mess buildings.

The vision for Shelly Bay was to have highperforming sustainable buildings but also beautiful ones, HopePearson said.

Larger structures at the rear of the development had been designed to mould into the escarpment, and front units would be an eclectic mix of individual dwellings.

Sustainability measures included rain gardens that would treat stormwater before it was discharged into the sea.

An ecological buffer at the rear of the site would be replanted with native flora.

Even though almost all the land involved in the development was owned by iwi, the plan was to make it inclusive, not exclusive, Mr HopePearson said.

They were pushing ahead despite the threat of further legal action because something had to be done and they believed their option was the right one.

A group within Taranaki Whanui who voted not to sell the Shelly Bay land are working on a legal challenge.

Mau Whenua alleges the 2017 sale failed to get the necessary support from 75% of iwi members to go ahead.

But a trustee of the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust and former chairman Neville Baker said they were at this point with the developer because they had the ‘‘authority’’ to do so.

‘‘We took that plan out to the people and we consulted. The majority of our people agreed that plan was the way forward.’’

The Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust was established to receive and manage the settlement package for Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika.

The financial settlement was $25 million and the trust used about half of that to buy properties at Shelly Bay.

‘‘It is our property and we paid for it and when something is yours then you have the right to develop it and to have the say on it,’’ Mr Baker said.

The details of a scathing email sent by filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson to mayor Justin Lester were revealed last month.

The email, provided to The New Zealand Herald, shows Sir Peter and partner Dame Fran Walsh were invited to a meeting with developer Ian Cassels and the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust to talk about how they might ‘‘be involved’’ in the development.

‘‘Fran and I are not, and never will be, interested in associating with a team who seem determined to turn Shelly Bay into something that has been described as ‘Sausalito’ — but which, in reality, will invoke blocks of Sovietera apartments dumped on Wellington’s picturesque peninsula,’’ Sir Peter wrote.

Mr Cassels said Sir Peter’s comments were very disappointing.

Enterprise Miramar chair Thomas Wutzler said the group was not planning any further litigation and was encouraged by the Court of Appeal’s instruction for the council to consider appointing independent commissioners to consider the fresh consent. — NZME