Contractor admits earthworks offences
Kaiapoi business owner Dave Clemence has admitted Resource Management Act charges relating to earthworks on three North Canterbury properties.
He and his companies, Clemence Drilling Contractors and DC Aqua Properties Ltd, pleaded guilty to a total of five charges in the Christchurch District Court today.
The Waimakariri District Council then dropped 12 other charges.
All the charges had been due for a judge-alone trial this week, but the deal today means that does not need to go ahead.
Clemence’s defence counsel Craig Ruane told Judge Paul Kellar that agreement had been reached just before the case was called in court, after negotiations over the last fortnight.
The late agreement meant that the agreed summary of facts was not available to be read in court nor handed to the judge straight away.
Sentencing has been set for February 8.
The case has not been referred for a restorative justice meeting because no identifiable victims were evident, and no pre-sentence reports have been called for.
Ruane said he and the prosecutor, Heather McKenzie, had agreed that the offences would most likely to dealt with by a fine.
Clemence admitted two charges of not complying with abatement notices, and one ‘‘earthworks’’ charge which states that he exceeded the permitted level of earthworks allowed under the Waimakariri District Plan. The plan permits 1000 sq m of earthworks per hectare. Clemence Drilling Contractors and DC Aqua Properties Ltd both admitted similar earthworks charges.
The charges relate to properties in Woodend Beach Road, between State Highway 1 and the beach settlement, and at two addresses in Tram Road in the Ohoka area.
They relate to placing soil onto farmland and moving it around. The soil had come from a dairy farm which was being converted to a subdivision.
The offences took place in late 2014 and early 2015.
Clemence was in the news at the Christchurch Court House in 2013 when he went to trial on charges of kidnapping and assaulting two men who were caught stealing diesel from his company’s machinery. The pair were assaulted by a group of unknown men and then delivered to the Kaiapoi Police Station.
Clemence was acquitted of assaulting the pair, but was convicted of kidnapping them. The jury evidently found that they had not been delivered to the police promptly enough.
He was fined $3000.