A Northland boatyard owner has been dealt a major blow after his resource consent applications for various works were declined by independent commissioners.
For years Doug Schmuck has tried to obtain legal rights to support use of the Wall's Bay Esplanade Reserve in Opua to store, wash down, repair and maintain boats, and to discharge noise and contaminants.
In 2013, the Department of Conservation's Northland Conservator, as the minister's delegate, granted easements allowing the construction of a slipway, stormwater and conduit drain, and the movement of boats across the slipway to the boatyard.
That was challenged in the Court of Appeal by the Opua Coastal Preservation Society (OCPS), which successfully appealed the decision to grant Schmuck use of part of the reserve to work on boats.
The boatyard owner is challenging the court's decision.