Hamilton Sonning car park saga escalated to tribunal
Hamilton’s Sonning car park redevelopment saga will be escalated to the Waitangi Tribunal, says a historian from local mana whenua Ngā ti Wairere.
Wiremu Puke said on Friday a claim was being made by Ngā ti Wairere about the former Opoia Pā site because there had been no city council consultation with his iwi about its future and ‘‘due to its historic importance’’.
That includes its connection with the Treaty of Waitangi via the Ngā ti Wairere rangatira Poukawa. Puke has suggested the council-owned site is retained as a public and memorial space rather than be developed for apartments, potentially housing hundreds.
One possibility was for the site to be owned jointly by Ngā ti Wairere and the council, he said.
Ngā ti Wairere Claims Trust negotiator Haydn Solomon said Opoia Pā is a site of cultural significance and one of a large number of pā and other such sites throughout the city, especially along Waikato River banks.
There was a statutory obligation for the council, the Crown and private developers to engage directly with Ngā ti Wairere over any proposal to develop Sonning car park or other such sites – ‘‘not vicariously through individual tribal members or council pseudo-Mā ori forums for a rubber stamp’’.
At this stage there has been no formal engagement with Ngā ti Wairere Claims Trust by the council, Solomon said. ‘‘Therefore, as far as we are concerned there is no proposal let alone development.’’
Advocacy group Guardians of Claudelands welcomed news of the Treaty claim.
Chairperson and former deputy mayor Gordon Chesterman insisted the group was not opposed to development at the site per se, but this needed to happen only after consultation with Ngā ti Wairere and also be appropriate for the Claudelands ‘‘heritage’’ area.
A statement to his group from the council late last month said it had not engaged with iwi or mana whenua over the proposed Sonning development at this stage.
The response said: ‘‘Usually, engagement would be triggered by either an application lodged with council or contact from a developer seeking contact details for mana whenua and iwi. None of those triggers have been activated.’’
Chesterman anticipated the Treaty claim would put the status of the land on hold until a determination was reached. He has claimed Sonning is earmarked for housing as part of the $150 million infrastructure package for Hamilton announced by the Government.
Asked recently whether the $150 million funding was in any way conditional on a housing development at Sonning, mayor Paula Southgate said it wasn’t at this point but she noted this was ‘‘one site of interest’’. One of the grievances raised by Puke is that Ngā ti Wairere hasn’t been directly contacted by developer Fosters over plans for the site.
Fosters chief executive Leonard Gardner, speaking before the Waitangi Tribunal claim announcement, said the firm recognised the importance of engaging with mana whenua on the various sites it is involved with in Hamilton.
But, at Sonning, there was a ‘‘need to get a concept together to discuss with them’’.
Gardner hoped to have that concept ready in February next year and was committed to doing the right thing at the right time.
Hamilton’s two new Mā ori ward councillors Melaina Huaki and Moko Tauariki said earlier that Ngā ti Wairere’s views are hugely important.
Huaki felt it was important to bring mana whenua into the loop over developments quickly. There wasn’t any particular rule in Mā oridom on at which point engagement should occur. But ‘‘the sooner the better’’, she said.
Tauariki – who planned to seek more information from Puke and Ngā ti Wairere – said he would tend to support the aspirations of mana whenua generally.
The council needed to do ‘‘due diligence with mana whenua’’ before any redevelopment.