Maitai group lodges appeal
The approval of a private plan change to enable residential development in Kaka Valley, near Nelson, has been appealed by opposition group Save the Maitai.
The notice to appeal to the Environment Court was lodged on Wednesday by Save the Maitai lawyer Sally Gepp.
In the notice, Gepp said the reason for the appeal was that the Nelson City Council relied on the recommendation of commissioners who had ‘‘erred’’ on multiple points.
She listed the findings that the plan change met the purpose and principles of the Resource Management Act, that it gave effect to the National Policy Statements on Urban Development and Freshwater Management, and the Nelson Regional Policy Statement, as errors on the commissioners’ part.
Gepp also said the information provided to the commissioners was not adequate, ‘‘particularly with respect to information relevant to stormwater management, flooding and earthworks’’.
The council accepted the private plan change to allow residential development in Kaka Valley in September.
Save the Maitai said the change would ‘‘adversely affect the amenity of Maitai Valley through urbanisation of Kaka Valley and associated noise, visual changes, traffic and stormwater runoff on the wider Maitai Valley’’.
In June, Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier partially upheld a complaint lodged by Save the Maitai about the council’s consultation process for the 2019 Future Development Strategy (FDS), which included Kaka Valley as an area for development.
However, he said he did not consider the shortcomings to be enough to undermine the overall consultation process.
Developer Andrew Spittal said the developers had followed process the whole way through.
‘‘We’ve worked hard, we have worked inside the boundaries. Every step of the way, we have got the tick, whether it is council vote or another council vote or hearings.
‘‘We expected the appeal to happen. They’ve appealed, and that’s their right, and we respect them for it.’’
Spittal said ratepayers would now be defending the appeal.
A resource consent application still had to be made, he said.
‘‘Just because we’ve got a plan change doesn’t mean we can develop. We have to meet all the resource consent conditions, which is a very rigorous process. The plan changes are just colouring the map into different zones.’’
Flooding in August did ‘‘exactly what the flood models we had done showed’’, Spittal said, and the developers had drone photo evidence of the minor slips that occurred.
Spittal said the developers had received a huge amount of support from the community since the plan change was accepted.