Coromandel landowners accused of breaking rules

Owners of a former campground wanting to replace caravans with two-storey homes are trying to flout planning rules, Coromandel Peninsula residents say.

The 10.7ha private camping ground at Waitete Bay, on the peninsula's western coast just south of Colville, has 30 owners.

Although 10 have been allowed to build "baches" of up to 70sq m, the other 20 were restricted to half that area under a management plan signed off with Thames Coromandel District Council in 2000.

The plan was drawn up because the site is zoned coastal or residential coastal, which might normally restrict development to one or two ordinary-sized homes.

Now some owners want to vary the management plan so everyone can build two-storey dwellings up to 6.5m high with a 70sq m floor area excluding decks. Neighbours say the plan is subdivision by stealth.

"I haven't heard one person who is in favour. This would create a precedent for anyone who wants it," said Waitete Bay resident John Fowler.

Thames planner Maxine Day, acting for the campground owners, said the application for a variation to the management plan did not create a precedent.

"I know this has raised some contention with neighbours," she said, "but the camp already has of right a consent to develop all the current sites into cabins so it's really asking for 70sq m as opposed to 45sq m."

She said the colour and materials used would adhere more closely to the council's district plan than some dwellings did now.

Owners would still be bound by the "temporary living" rule of no more than 50 days' continuous occupancy, but Mr Fowler said the rule was being broken.

"Who's going to police it?" he said.

The camp site plan would put pressure on its sewage treatment plant and electricity supply.

The issue had divided the campground owners, said one owner who did not want to be named.

"They are trying to push this through and get around the rules."

Thames Coromandel District Council spokesman Peter Hazael said a consultant planner was deciding whether a variation to the management plan would contravene the council's district plan.


* Clarification: A picture accompanying the print edition of this report, published on March 8, may have implied that Cooks Beach Resort, a development for 86 apartments at Cooks Beach being undertaken by Arnack Developments, was breaking resource management rules and/or was subdivision by stealth.


The Herald accepts that any such implication is wrong and apologises for any misunderstanding.