KEY POINTS:
The battle to open a large Auckland supermarket built more than two years ago will heat up on Monday when authorities start a hearing to decide on its legality.
A National Trading Company subsidiary of Foodstuffs has been trying to open its Wairau Rd Pak 'N Save on the North Shore for 20 years.
Although it finished building in 2005, the store was ruled illegal and has had to stay shut ever since.
So Foodstuffs took the unusual step of making an entirely new resource consent application for a completed building.
The North Shore City Council and Auckland Regional Council will hear the notified resource consent application for the business over five days.
Stefan Naude, North Shore's resource management group manager, said proceedings would begin with a site visit and the hearing would begin sitting in the afternoon.
But the hearing would not be the end of matters, he warned. He expects any decision reached by the combined authorities to be immediately appealed to the Environment Court.
"Whatever the result of this process, my expectation is that it will be appealed by the other party. I can't see either party accepting the result, if it's in favour of one party," Naude said.
"We don't favour any outcome, but both parties would like to get this resolved as soon as possible."
Progressive says the supermarket is contrary to the council's centre-based district plan policy and that the store would cause traffic congestion and air pollution. It has also cited the supermarket's threat to other stores, saying its opening would have a flow-on effect on North Shore centres.
Foodstuffs said it was confident of success after more than 1000 people registered their support for the store. Only five parties had registered opposition, Foodstuffs said, including rival supermarket chain Progressive.
But Naude said a large number of the 1000 supporters had signed a petition. Under the Resource Management Act, their collective signatures would be counted as one vote in favour of the application.
Foodstuffs said it had been planning the new supermarket for 17 years and in October 2004, it got council resource consent. So work started and the store was due to open in August 2005, creating 300 jobs in the area.
"Foodstuffs competitor, the Australian-owned Progressive Enterprises, along with the Northcote Mainstreet Business Association, opposed the council's granting of the consent on a non-notified basis and the consent was overturned by the High Court in June 2005, forcing work on the supermarket to stop," Foodstuffs said. Murray Jordan, Foodstuffs' general manager of property development, said he was heartened by people who had backed the store.
"The support from people on the North Shore has been outstanding. You've just got to look at the numbers. Applying for a fully notified consent gives people a chance to be heard," he said.
He expects a decision from the hearing's panel by March.
