Enner Glynn consent set to be appealed in court
Resource consent has been approved for a subdivision plan on Enner Glynn Rd creating six residential allotments, but its detractors have not given up the fight.
Neighbouring landowner Lindy Kelly, who has been speaking out against the development for over two years, said she was ‘‘disappointed’’ about the decision, and confirmed to the Nelson Mail on Thursday that an appeal had been lodged in the Environment Court on behalf of a group of six people who were affected parties.
The Kelly family’s working farm is home to the Kelly Conservation Forest, a 15-hectare slice of native bush in
Enner Glynn, which dates back to preEuropean times.
It’s this area she is fiercely protective of. In the resource consent hearing in October, Kelly said ‘‘multiple risks’’ were associated with discharging wastewater in the vulnerable environment, including the risk of slope instability and stormwater and wastewater pollution.
A petition to help ‘‘Save Kelly Conservation Forest’’ garnered some 3000 signatures in 2020.
‘‘[We’ve had] huge, huge support, and it’s extremely disappointing that that has been the decision,’’ Kelly said. ‘‘I don’t believe it’s the right one.’’ The farm owner and volunteers have worked to expand the forest to four times its original size over the past 36 years, with the help of the community
‘‘It’s extremely disappointing that that has been the decision.’’ Lindy Kelly
and over 100,000 hours of volunteer labour.
Kelly said the forest was open to the public four times a year, receiving over 2000 visitors over those periods. It was used by schools, kindergartens, trainee rangers, horticultural students from NMIT and walking groups.
The proposal to subdivide 32 Enner Glynn Rd into six lots with a seventh lot on 100 Enner Glynn Rd was approved by the Nelson City Council in October.
It will involve creating five building platforms, landscape planting, the construction of accessways and the upgrading of the existing driveway, along with associated wastewater disposal systems and the disposal of stormwater.
It was the latter two issues that have proven particularly contentious.
However, hearing commissioner Dean Chrystal wrote in the Resource Management Act decision report that treated effluent would be discharged on site to land via ‘‘pressure compensated drip irrigation’’, which he described as ‘‘more environmentally sustainable’’ than systems in place at present on the site.
The submitters’ other concerns related to issues such as the ‘‘effects from earthworks and erosion above a sensitive receiving environment, pollution in the stormwater, earthworks slumping into the conservation area, [and] adverse effects on living and breeding areas for fauna and flora within the conservation area.’’
In a Facebook post in August, the Kelly Conservation Forest spokesperson said the conservation area had considerable damage from the August floods.
Trees that had survived for hundreds of years were now gone.
‘‘Remind me how adding storm water from hard surfaces from five additional houses into this exact area from the proposed subdivision is a good idea? These hills can’t take more runoff from development.’’
Justin Irvine, a director of Enner
Glynn limited, the company seeking the development, said the scheme had been designed in sympathy to the area.
‘‘All of the council’s representatives that were engaged were in total agreement ... all of the independent companies we’ve engaged [were in] agreement, and one of the top commissioners in the country [was in] agreement.’’
Irvine said the systems that had been designed to mitigate any additional stormwater were extensive, and they were commonly used around the country for this purpose. ‘‘Every rural type property has one of these wastewater treatment systems, which are much more involved than an old septic tank, and they’re not allowed
to discharge across the boundary. If they were to discharge across the boundary in any way, they would be pulled up, and you would have to stop using it.
‘‘There are council regulations to cover all of the concerns, and that’s been explained by council.’’
Irvine said they would also be doing ‘‘a couple of hectares’’ of native planting.
‘‘There’s a lot of stuff that we’re doing that’s actually positive for the environment,’’ he said.
‘‘We’ve gone above and beyond what we should normally have to do, just to get to this stage . . . it’s not like once we get this consent approved that we can just go and do whatever we want. We can’t, we have to follow the rules and really make sure everything’s correct.’’