By TONY GEE
RUSSELL - A controversial application by the Kororareka Marae Society to develop a marae on a 1.7ha site next to the Russell cemetery goes before a hearings committee this week.
A two-stage development over five years is planned by the society and its supporters, starting with shifting a building to the site for use as offices, a kohanga reo and learning centre.
Stage two calls for building a meeting house and dining rooms, kitchen, health and fitness area, and a roofed manuhiri (visitors') entrance.
If consent is granted by the Far North District Council, the complex will be used for a range of Maori cultural and community activities, including child education, meetings and funeral gatherings.
The proposal has generated plenty of public interest and has attracted over 500 submissions - more than the number received about the regional prison planned for Ngawha, near Kaikohe.
A total of 327, or 65 per cent, of the submissions oppose the application. Submitters cite not enough information and detail; unsuitable access and insufficient parking; inadequate effluent disposal; harm to the landscape, vegetation and recreational values; and conflicts with spirituality and religion by allowing a marae to adjoin a cemetery.
Among 173 submissions in favour is one from the society that includes a petition with 550 signatures supporting the marae complex and lease of the site from the council.
Supporters believe Maori history is an important part of the historical township and that many generations of Maori now consider Kororareka to be their turangawaewae (home ground).
In a report to the council's hearings committee, resource planner Nassah Steed recommends granting consent to both stages of the development, subject to conditions.
These include no second-stage building until the marae is connected to the Russell sewage scheme or consent for on-site effluent disposal is obtained from the Northland Regional Council.
The planner's report says it is unclear when the site will be connected for sewage.
Mr Steed also recommends that cemetery land to be used as vehicle access to the marae should be acquired by the council as a road under the Public Works Act.
He says it is nationally important that the council provide for the relationship of Maori and their culture with their ancestral lands. The proposal is consistent with principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.
The site can accommodate proposed marae activities, subject to conditions, without harming the environment, the planner says.
Hearing of the application starts tomorrow in the Russell Town Hall and has been set down for three days.
The committee may then reserve its decision.
Russell cemetery-side marae plan awaits okay
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