Threatened birds block marina plan

Developers have been refused consent for a marina in a Tairua bay that is home to threatened birds and the country's oldest archaeological find.

In a decision released yesterday, developers Craig Watts and Jim Mason had an appeal against an earlier ruling on Paku Bay disallowed, with costs reserved.

Environment Judge David Sheppard and two environment commissioners ruled the plan would damage a habitat for nationally threatened birds and erode its natural beauty.

Altogether 142,000cu m of sand would have to be excavated to create a channel and marina basin with 1.8ha of seabed and foreshore reclaimed for car parking, marina walls and two breakwaters up to 400m long.

Developers sought to dump up to 20,000cu m of these dredgings off nearby Pauanui Beach.

Guardians of Paku Bay chairman Bruce Gilberd said he was delighted with the decision. "We hope [it] will encourage other communities under inappropriate development pressure."

The proposed site is zoned for a marina and judges found merits in providing safe access to boat berths, a recreation reserve and some protection for a nearby Maori midden that was found to have the oldest evidence of human settlement uncovered in New Zealand.

But the benefits served relatively few compared to the environmental costs, judges said.

The proposal was opposed by Environment Waikato, the Thames Coromandel District Council, the DoC and local iwi.