Council ready to lift hurdle for developer

Papakura District Council is backing a proposal for a retirement village and boutique golf course which promises a $1 million windfall to council coffers.

But first the council must lift an encumbrance which it placed on the title when it sold the local golf course in 1993. The restriction was to ensure that the 1.28ha in Belfield Rd would stay Papakura Golf Course.

On Wednesday, the council signed a concept agreement with Honk Group, whose directors are Andrew Tauber and Paul Webb.

Approval was also obtained from the Auckland Transition Agency, because any deal will be inherited by the Auckland Council when Papakura is absorbed from November 1.

Papakura councillor Peter Jones said lifting the encumbrance would boost the value of the land and the council had negotiated to get a $1 million payment in recognition of this rise.

"It's money back to the ratepayers."

The project would still go through standard resource consent procedures.

Mr Jones, who is development committee chairman, said the matter had been discussed in a "workshop" with the developer instead of at an open council meeting.

But the council would now ask "local people" how they felt about lifting the restriction during consultation from January 27 to February24.

A Honk Group spokesman said the company would give more details nearer the consultation time.

The spokesman said no loss of public access to the revised course was expected and the company was keen to set a youth player programme at the course.

It is the second application for retirement village sites by Honk Group directors.

Auckland City Council approved Education Holdings' bid for a District Plan zone change to allow a retirement village on land bought from Selwyn College at Kohimarama.

The company is appealing to the Environment Court because it disagrees with the consent conditions.

A second appellant is a residents' opposition group called the Association to Conserve & Nurture Education Zones (Canenz).

It claims the rezoning removes a long standing green buffer from school activities for the homes and exposes their neighbourhood to intensive institutional development and triple the traffic movements.