Law blamed for marina marathon

By GREGG WYCHERLEY

More than a decade ago a group of Whangamata residents decided that the small Coromandel seaside town needed a marina.

Since then, the Whangamata Marina Society has spent $800,000 of members' money on legal costs and countless hours in court fighting objections through a sea of bureaucracy under the Resource Management Act (RMA).

Regional and district councils approved the 200-berth marina plan and not one appeal against the consents has been upheld.

Today there is still no sign of the marina, and a mangrove swamp is beginning to choke the rapidly silting harbour.

Marina project coordinator Mick Kelly said the past 11 years had been "an extraordinary exercise in frustration, obstruction and delay".

Mr Kelly said consultation with iwi had been particularly frustrating, especially in light of a document revealing a policy of objecting at every step of the process.

Local iwi Ngati Puu were the main objectors, and have managed to stall the project.

A document outlining the stance of the Ngati Puu on resource consents near Whangamata said the first rule was to object, and rule two was object.

"If in doubt go back to rule one [objection gives time, time is of no importance to us, only the applicant]," says the document from Te Runanga o Ngati Puu's environmental management committee.

Grounds for objection are given as lack of consultation, the Treaty of Waitangi, the RMA or "anything anyone could think of".

The Herald could not contact Ngati Puu chairman Keith Silveira last night.

Mr Perry said the organisation had made many attempts to come to a compromise with the objectors, but got the same answer.

"No marina, no way, not in this harbour."

He said that although Ngati Puu had hindered the process, the real villain was the RMA, which allowed groups to delay projects indefinitely even when their objections had been ruled groundless.

"If the RMA wasn't as loose as it is, they wouldn't have the opportunity to do what they have done."

In February 2001 the Environment Court issued an interim decision, neither granting nor refusing consent.

The court generally dismissed appellants' concerns but stopped short of granting consent because Environment Waikato's Coastal Plan made no specific provision for a marina at that location.

The plan designated the whole of the upper harbour as an Area of Special Conservation Value and asked that Environment Waikato change the coastal plan before it could grant consent.

The plan change will be publicly notified on Friday, and the marina project will stay on hold to await the inevitable objections.

Mr Kelly said the society was a non-profit incorporation of about 250 boat owners who had risked their own money for the project.

"If we had been in it for a profit, we would have buggered off years ago."

"But it's not just our members, the whole system is costing the taxpayer as well."

Nats left 'mess' says Minister

Environment Minister Marian Hobbs yesterday hit back at National MP Nick Smith for claiming that Maori are abusing the Resource Management Act.

Dr Smith said yesterday that Maori objections were holding up progress on a host of projects, including the Whangamata marina.

To back his claim, he released a leaked document outlining Coromandel iwi Ngati Puu's stance on resource consents in the Whangamata area.

The document said the first rule on consent applications was to object, as was the second. Suggested grounds included lack of consultation, the Treaty of Waitangi, the act, then "anything anyone can think of".

Ms Hobbs said National had an abysmal record in environmental management, leaving the Environment Court so underfinanced that a huge backlog of cases built up, leaving a mess Labour was cleaning up.

The act allowed for iwi concerns to be included in council plans and policies, which was a better approach than having iwi object to individual applications, she said.

Ngati Puu spokesman Ted Shaw said the paper had been intended only to instigate discussion on how the iwi dealt with development.

"The only means that we can have a say in any matter to do with resource consents is through objection."

- NZPA

Further reading: nzherald.co.nz/marine