Application hearing ‘ridiculous’
A Dunedin DVD hire store has been caught between two district plans as its owner attempts to get resource consent for a move to Hillside Rd.
Network Video owner Paul Whelan described a decision to send his application to a hearing, costing him thousands of dollars, as ‘‘bloody ridiculous’’.
He said the building he had moved to had been a retail outlet before he took the site, but he was being told his business was noncompliant.
Mr Whelan applied for resource consent for the move of his Network Video store from Andersons Bay Rd to 257 Hillside Rd.
The consent document said the business would be on a site zoned industrial 1 in the city’s district plan, and industrial in the 2GP, the city’s next version of the plan, which is yet to be finalised.
It said the effect of the business opening there had been determined as no more than minor, and nobody would potentially be affected by the application.
But under the 2GP provisions as they stood, the proposal was noncomplying.
Staff initially determined the application could proceed without being notified.
‘‘However, as the proposal is for retail activity within the industrial 1 zone, it was considered there is a conflict with the relevant objectives and policies for the zone, and the proposal raises issues of plan integrity.’’
In his conclusion, planner James Coutts said the proposal would ‘‘undermine the integrity of the district plan’’, and create an undesirable precedent.
Mr Whelan’s application noted a variety of activities already in the zone, including funeral services, a dairy, car yards and a church.
The site was well suited for a DVD hire store, due to its distance from intersections, and parking for customers and staff.
Mr Whelan said the process seemed ‘‘a bit crazy’’ and would cost him up to $7000.
‘‘Really, it should have just been a tick and a flick.’’
He said he now had to wait for the hearing.
‘‘I don’t know why we’re paying our council staff, they don’t seem to be able to make a decision.’’
On the DVD rental industry, he said it was ‘‘viable, but not a massive money earner’’.
The consent application, based on his experience at the Andersons Bay Rd store, estimated an average 500 customers a week.
Mr Whelan said over three stores, after breaking with another video chain, Network Video had signed nearly 10,000 people in the last 18 months. ‘‘A lot of people rent.’’ He said people paid for ‘‘only three or four shows’’ with streaming services, with 70% of the product between three and five years old.
He said not everybody was online.
‘‘It’s challenging, because in the end people believe you just get it on the internet.’’ The application is going to a hearing on July 17.