Resource Consent (Land Use) 61.4.817 – Application
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Application For Land Use Consent – Creswell New Zealand Limited RESOURCE CONSENT (LAND USE) 61.4.817 – APPLICATION TO CHANGE TO CONDITIONS OF CONSENT APPLICATIONS FOR LAND USE CONSENT: Subject: TO UNDERTAKE EARTHWORKS WITHIN 60M OF THE TARAWERA RIVER STOPBANK TO DISTURB SOIL ON AN IDENTIFIED HAIL SITE 57 JOHNSON ROAD, OTAKIRI To: HEARINGS COMMISSIONERS Hearing Date: MONDAY 30 APRIL – FRIDAY 4 MAY 2018 Written by: CONSULTANT PLANNER – ANN NICHOLAS File Reference: LV-2017-2077-02 & LN 2017-2077-03 1 APPLICATION DETAIL 1.1 Applicant’s Name Creswell NZ Limited 1.2 Address/Location 57 Johnson Road, Otakiri 1.3 Legal Description Lot 4 DPS 27652 1.4 Zoning Rural Plains Zone 1.5 Designations/ Constraints No special notation under the District Plan. The site is identified on BOPRC’s HAIL register. 2 INTRODUCTION 2.1 My name is Ann Lloyd Nicholas. I have a Bachelor of Arts in geography from the University of Canterbury and a Bachelor of Town Planning from the University of Auckland. I have been a member of the New Zealand Planning Institute since 1980. I have more than thirty-five years’ experience as a planning consultant in the Bay of Plenty and Central North Island. I am a principal of Sigma Consultants Ltd, Rotorua. 2.2 For many years, I have reported to the Whakatāne District Council on a range of applications within the Whakatāne District. I am therefore very familiar with the Whakatāne District and the Operative District Plan. 2.3 I was been engaged by Whakatāne District Council to report on this application for resource consent after the application had been notified and the period for submissions closed. I have visited the site and I am generally familiar with the surrounding environment. 2.4 I can confirm that I have read and that I understand the code of conduct for expert witnesses contained within the Environment Court Practice Note 2014 and that I agree to comply with it. I can confirm that I have considered the material facts that I am aware of that might alter or detract from the opinions expressed here. I also confirm that the opinions that I have expressed in my evidence are mine, unless I have specifically stated that I have relied on others in forming my opinions. However, I note that I may amend my opinion and subsequent 1 Creswell NZ Ltd Whakatane District Council Section 42A Draft Report 280318 recommendation in whole or in part as a result of any evidence, information or other matters that are raised during the course of the hearing that I am not aware of at the time of writing this report. 2.5 This report provides a summary of the proposed activity and the issues raised by submitters, it identifies the relevant District Plan provisions, assesses the environmental effects of the proposal, and evaluates the proposal against the relevant statutory considerations. The purpose of this report is to provide a recommendation with respect to the decision required under Section 104 of the Resource Management Act 1991, to grant or refuse land use consent. 3 DECISION ON SUBMISSION 3.1 The Commissioners’ decision is required in relation to one submission which was received within the submission period but from a person who was not served notice. As is explained in section 8 below, the application was limited notified under section 95B of the RMA. It should be noted that the application was lodged prior to the Resource Legislation Amendment Act 2017 came into effect on 18 October 2017. Therefore, the previous RMA sections apply. 3.2 The notification decision was made by Dr Phil Mitchell, Independent Commissioner, under delegated authority on 15 November 2017. (Refer Attachment A). The list of parties to be served notice is set out in section 4 of that decision. It included “persons with property on Johnson Road (...) and Hallett Road (between the railway crossing and the end of Hallett Road near the Tarawera River)”. 3.3 A submission was lodged within the submission period by Mr Ralph McCorkindale who is the father of a submitter, Sarah van der Boom. Mr McCorkindale did not reside at the affected property, 410 Hallett Road, at that time and he was not served notice. 3.4 Under section 96(4), “a person served with notice of the application may make a submission.” The requirement of the wording is clear. I consider that accepting the submission would set an expectation that other parties could make submissions on future applications. This would not be consistent with fair and transparent processes and natural justice. 3.5 Nevertheless, it would be appropriate to allow Mr McCorkindale to speak to the Commissioners about his submission. I note that Mr McCorkindale may still be able to speak in support of the submissions lodged by his daughter and son-in-law, who may call any party to speak at the hearing in support of their submission. 3.6 The Commissioners’ decision is requested. 4 BACKGROUND 4.1 Whakatāne District Council granted resource consent (land use) to Robertson Farms on 10 December 1991 to “establish a mineral bottling plant” on Lot 4 DPS 27652. An extension to the existing buildings was proposed as part of the application. The application had been publicly notified and 3 submissions were lodged. The main issues identified at the time were noise, visual impact and dust on the road. The limited hours of operation, the small number of truck movements and staff and the fact that all activities would take place inside the building were noted in the planner’s report at the time. 4.2 The consent was granted subject to 5 conditions which I summarise as follows: (a) The site to be developed generally in accordance with the application and plans. (b) The hours of operation to be Monday to Sunday 6am to 10pm (c) Noise levels to be complied with. 2 Creswell NZ Ltd Whakatane District Council Section 42A Draft Report 280318 (d) Regular monitoring to be undertaken and Council to be advised of any major expansion or updating of plant and machinery, introduction of a second shift, number of staff exceeding 8 or more than 4 truck movements in a day on a regular basis. (e) Refuse and waste water to be disposed of to the satisfaction of Council. The existing consent is attached to this report as Attachment B. 4.3 The number of buildings on site has more than doubled over time to provide for storage and workshop expansion. Condition (d) required that Council was informed of “any major expansion or updating of plant and machinery”. In July 2016 Council wrote to the consent holder advising that the activity was potentially no longer “in general accordance with” the 1991 resource consent and a variation was required. 4.4 The existing site layout is shown below. 4.5 The current application effectively seeks the redevelopment of the whole site. 5 SITE AND SURROUNDS 5.1 The site has an area of 6.3ha and is generally flat. It contains the existing Otakiri Springs water bottling plant and a kiwifruit orchard of approximately 5.5ha. The existing water bottling plant that has operated from the site since the early 1990s is located in the north eastern corner of the site and is accessed from Johnson Road. The kiwifruit orchard occupies most of the balance of the site and the perimeter has a generally well established shelterbelt around it. These are cryptomeria on the western and southern boundaries and casuarina on the northern and eastern boundaries, with internal shelter belts dividing the orchard into 6 blocks. 5.2 Within the site there is a collection of linked buildings for the existing water bottling plant and they are up to 8.4m high. There is an unsealed vehicle access to and around the buildings. Parking is not marked and vehicles park on the adjoining grassed areas. 5.3 The site has frontage to Johnson and Hallett Roads and backs on to the Tarawera River. Hallett Drain follows the eastern boundary of the site. The Tarawera River runs along the western boundary of the property at the rear of the site, with a stopbank being immediately adjacent to the property. 5.4 Access to the site is from the frontage on Johnson Road, approximately 670m from the intersection of Johnson and Hallett Roads. Johnson and Hallett Roads are both no-exit roads. At the northern end of Hallett Road there is a level crossing 30m west of SH34. 3 Creswell NZ Ltd Whakatane District Council Section 42A Draft Report 280318 5.5 The surrounding land on both sides of the Tarawera River is a mix of pasture, orchards, and lifestyle blocks. Immediately across the road from the entrance is the Whakatāne District Council water bore for public supply. There are 16 dwellings located within 300m of the site boundaries, 4 of which are within 100m. 5.6 The site is listed on the BOPRC HAIL register as it has been used as an orchard since the mid 1980s. In addition old equipment including old fuel/ oil drums are stored on the ground on the western side of the existing buildings. The HAIL register therefore identifies the site as: A10 – persistent pesticide bulk storage or use including sport turfs, market gardens, orchards, glass houses or spray sheds. A17 – Storage tanks or drums for fuel, chemicals or liquid waste. Elevated concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, copper and zinc were detected at levels above the background levels. Elevated arsenic was detected in one location (240 mg/kg compared with the guideline level of 70mg/kg) 6 PROPOSAL 6.1 Creswell NZ Limited has applied to expand the existing Otakiri water bottling plant.