QLDC doing deals on declined consents decried

A RESOURCE management watchdog is calling on the Queenstown Lakes District Council to stop doing deals with developers whose resource consents have been declined.

Two more declined residential developments in Wanaka are heading to the Environment Court.

Ballantyne Baker Holdings and Criffel Deer Ltd, both owned by Michael and Caroline Garnham, applied for resource consent to develop ruralzoned land on the outskirts of Wanaka in Mt Barker and Ballantyne Rds into rural residential lots.

Last month, both consents were declined by independent commissioners Wendy Baker and David Whitney on the grounds the developments would have significant adverse effects on the rural landscape and the rural character of the area and could set a precedent for future applications in ruralzoned lands.

Both decisions have been appealed.

The appeals were filed by Mr Garnham’s counsel, Phil Page, last month on the grounds the conclusions reached by the commissioners in declining the applications were incorrect.

The Garnhams are seeking to have both consents granted in their entirety.

Opposition to the proposals came from some neighbours and the Upper Clutha Environmental Society (UCES).

There will now be a mediation process to see if there is a way to settle any of the issues raised during the resource consent process before it needed to be heard by the Environment Court.

The UCES has indicated it will not take part in the mediation process.

Secretary Julian Haworth said the society would treat each appeal on a casebycase basis when deciding on whether to take part in the mediation process.

In the case of Criffel Deer Ltd, Mr Haworth said the society had asked the consent be declined in its entirety so they would be wasting their time trying to have issues addressed through mediation.

The QLDC has indicated it would take part in the mediation process but Mr Howarth said the QLDC should defend decisions made by commissioners and not make deals with developers.

‘‘Council appears to be making deals with applicants to avoid the cost of going to court,’’ he said.

QLDC chief executive Mike Theelen said the council almost always agreed to mediate appeals.

There was an expectation parties would participate in and negotiate at mediation constructively and in good faith.

Mediation could narrow the issues in dispute, resulting in faster, more efficient appeal proceedings, which saved ratepayers money, he said.

Sometimes, the commissioners’ decision indicated some development was acceptable, but not what was applied for and mediation offered the opportunity to explore that outside the court process. The Garnhams want to subdivide 48ha of land near the Cardrona River in Ballantyne Rd into nine residential lots.

Most of the land, about 40ha, will be kept as farmland with one farmhouse to be built on the land.

They also applied to subdivide about 6.8ha of rural land in Mt Barker Rd, also near the Cardrona River, into three residential lots.

They could not be contacted yesterday.