Court tells Transit to pay for road delay

Transit NZ must pay a "modest" $33,000 towards costs amassed by Papakura District Council and property firms after delaying development of a key Auckland growth zone.

But Papakura ratepayers will remain out of pocket by an estimated $166,000 despite the Environment Court's costs award.

The highways agency appealed to the court against a council district plan change providing for about 1400 homes on picturesque Hingaia Peninsula - towards a target population of more than 10,000 - before striking a settlement part-way through a hearing in May.

That deal involved an agreement to start discussions with the council and developers on how to pay for a $10 million-plus upgrade of Papakura's often log-jammed interchange with the Southern Motorway.

Transit has since committed itself to completing the upgrade within five years, on condition that it receives "third party" contributions outside funding from the National Land Transport Programme.

In earlier submissions to the district council, Transit claimed the plan change failed to recognise the need for an upgrade to accommodate extra trips generated by the change, and that finance for the project would be Papakura's responsibility under Government transport funding rules.

But the Environment Court has now ordered Transit to pay what it describes as modest contributions towards council and developers' cost estimates totalling about $316,000 to counter what they claimed was an ill-defined appeal by the agency.

The council has been awarded $15,000 after estimating the appeal had cost it $181,370.

Karaka Centre Ltd and associated developers have also been awarded $15,000 between them - against an estimated $115,000 - and Parklands Properties Ltd is to receive $3000 out of $20,000.

Transit, which has become increasingly active nationally in challenging developments which it fears will compromise its state highways network, opposed paying costs and the court noted in an earlier judgment that it rarely made an award in instances where it had not reached any conclusions on the merits of a case.

Judge Jeff Smith said even in his latest decision that it was difficult to gauge exactly how much extra preparation time had followed a "lack of clarity" in Transit's appeal and the late notification of its actual position.

But he said it was clear that none of the other parties or the court would have been aware until February this year of the exact nature of changes sought to objectives, policies and rules in Papakura's district plan, even though Transit was put on notice nine months earlier of a need to clarify its aims.

He said both Karaka Centre and Parklands could properly claim that delays had affected them directly and involved an inability to develop their properties until the issue had been resolved.