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Kapiti District Council will decide on April 7 whether to approve a report recommending changes to the district plan enabling new development at Paraparaumu Airport.
Independent commissioners have largely recommended that changes to the district plan be accepted. Backers of an initial $750 million proposal requested changes to existing airport zoning to include more retail and commercial operations.
Objectors to the proposal included the Kapiti Aero Club and retail operator Coastlands.
Paraparaumu Airport Holdings, which bought the 131ha airport site in 2006, had made numerous alterations to its proposal to take into account concerns over infrastructure, the environment and aviation issues, said director Noel Robinson.
The commissioners will present their report to the council on April 7, when councillors will vote on whether to accept or reject the recommendations. If accepted, objectors have 21 days to appeal to the Environment Court.
Paraparaumu, 52km northeast of Wellington, was Wellington's airfield until Wellington Airport was opened in the late 1950s.
- NZPA
