Auckland green belt under pressure

A developer wants to build a subdivision and two golf courses in a pine forest on the "green belt" that stops Auckland pushing further north.

In return for development rights, the company says it will hand over a 300ha park for public use.

Developer Williams Capital is talking with the Rodney District Council and the Auckland Regional Council to identify what development would be appropriate in the Weiti Forest land between North Shore City and Rodney District.

The company is not putting a value on the project, which would run into tens of millions of dollars. Principal Evan Williams could not say how many people would live in the proposed "village" because that was being discussed with the councils, leading to an application for a private change to the Rodney District Plan.

The proposal will be notified and open to public consultation.

The previous owner sought a development with 600 households which would take about 1600 people, compared with present rules which allow 150 lots, mainly in the eastern part. Site sizes varied from 265sq m to 2000sq m to give different housing styles.

Mr Williams said the village would be designed to encourage walking and would have solar power generators and ways to capture and reuse water.

Two international standard golf courses would be developed on the property.

Consultants were preparing plans to preserve wildife habitats and corridors. Possibilities included erecting a pest-proof fence to protect New Zealand dotterells and a ban on residents having cats and also controls on dogs.

Mr Williams said he was trying to buy the cutting rights to the pine forest on his land. The trees were reaching maturity.

Securing the rights from the Deutsche Bank-Rayonier consortium would allow the trees to be felled at a controlled rate to avoid causing sediment run-off from bare land.

The Weiti forest is the largest privately owned chunk of undeveloped land left on Auckland's north-east coast. It is a key part of the green belt which has development controls to check the potential for urban sprawl from Orewa to Albany.

Williams Capital wants to develop a quarter of the 900ha property, which has pine trees on 80 per cent of it and a coastal walkway from Stillwater settlement southward to historic 1855 Dacre Cottage.

Mr Williams said plans included gifting a park of more than 300ha, using a similar model to Cornwall Park in Auckland which is 178ha and run by a trust board for public use.

The park would include a large part of the Okura Catchment, which has featured in planning battles over the years with environmental groups anxious to protect the ecology of the Okura Estuary and the Okura-Long Bay Marine Reserve from earthworks run-off.

Proposed park land wraps round the back of the property from Okura to the Stillwater settlement and Mr Williams said walkways would be preserved and enhanced.

New ones could be formed to show pockets of untouched native forest and their large kauri and puriri trees.

"This park gift is without precedent ... this is smack in the middle of developed commuter territory," he said. "But we have to find a way to pay for the park."

Proposals for public parkland and preserving the green belt depended on the level of development consents agreed to by the local authorities.

Rodney Mayor John Law said last night the Williams' application for clusters of housing challenged the conventional thinking on land use.

He said he was impressed the company wanted to preserve the vegetation cover rather than denude the land.

Dacre Cottage committee chairman Peter Townend said the Weiti block was the last remaining remote coastal area available to the Rodney and North Shore districts.

"It is within the central part of these two rapidly growing communities and must be recognised as an irreplaceable asset.

"Future subdivision on the boundaries of the ribbon of reserves that make up the walkway will turn a memorable wilderness experience into just another urban sprawl."

Mr Townend said the land should be secured in public ownership.

ARC parks chairwoman Sandra Coney said Mr Williams had spoken to the council but there had been no discussion as to what position it would adopt.