The future of the Kākā Valley as a home for tangata whenua has come head-to-head with the environmental concerns of a group appealing against a subdivision in the area.
Opposition group Save the Maitai is attempting to appeal the Nelson City Council’s September 2022 decision to adopt Plan Change 28 allowing the subdivision to go ahead.
Private Plan Change 28 would rezone approximately 287 hectares of land located within Kākā Valley providing for approximately 900 homes, more than 50% of which would be in the Kākā Valley.
A three day Environmental Court hearing kicked off on Wednesday at the Nelson District Court.
After karakia and waiata, opening submissions in court disputed the issues of erosion and sedimentation, with counsel for Save the Maitai Sally Gepp arguing there was an “information gap” when it came to the problems that would be created by earthworks.
“As the last of Nelson’s undeveloped valleys close to the city, the appellant would love to keep the Maitai Valley in its current semi-rural state, and not have urban development encroach on the valley,” Gepp said.
“It understands that it’s not able to achieve that outcome. But at a minimum, it wants to ensure development of PPC [Private Plan Change] 28 is undertaken in a manner that does not risk the health of the Maitai River or Nelson Bays. It does not see why the river or coastal estuaries should bear the risk of sediment discharges.”
John Maassen, the applicant’s counsel, gave a summary of the earthworks provisions, stating that erosion and sediment control involving waterways was “within the DNA” of the plan change.
The provisions were “unprecedented” in Nelson, he said.
Maassen said the site was ideal for residential development within the region’s constrained topography and geography.
It was Ngāti Koata ancestral land on which they wished to house their people, and the significance of that housing being enabled could be viewed through a historical lens, Maaseen said, however, the Environment Court would not have the “benefit of the powerful testimony of young Māori families who can’t afford to live in Whakatū”.
Gepp said while her clients supported Ngāti Koata’s aspirations for the housing and restoration of the site, their concerns were about the urbanisation beyond what would occur if it was simply the iwi’s aspirations alone.
The Kākā Stream and the Maitai River were host to at-risk fish species, whose swimming holes were “valued by the whole Nelson community”.
The site had “many challenges from erosion”, such as clay soils and deep contours, and was a sensitive receiving environment.
That the earthworks for the site would require resource consent was not in dispute, she said: “It’s just whether that’s enough.”
Walters Bluff resident Richard English also represented himself at the hearing, opposing a road connection to Walters Bluff Rd, which he said would increase traffic in the area from 600 vehicles a day to 2500.
Maassen said Ngāti Koata was “well aware” of the amenities of the Maitai Valley as a taonga for Nelson and the community.
The iwi looked to and aspired to sustainable development that followed mātauranga Māori and respected the environment, and had undertaken extensive consultation with tangata whenua.
“It’s disheartening for tangata whenua who have monitored this development process to hear STM [Save the Maitai]... saying our approach has been cavalier and that we have played fast and loose with the Maitai River’s value because that’s simply untrue.”
Maasson also took aim at a designation of highly productive land, and asked the court whether that designation of property that could support 18 head of cattle should “defeat the aspirations” of Ngāti Koata and other partners to provide housing that was “demonstrably needed”.
“This has been a difficult and highly contested process ... Ngāti Koata thanks STM for the friction, because it has produced a better stone, a better product.”
The hearing was adjourned on Wednesday afternoon for a site visit, and will resume on Thursday.
- Nelson Mail