Pakawau Beach Park plans scaled down and redesigned for third submission
Pakawau resident Landon Carter hopes it’ll be a case of third time lucky with his latest resource consent application for the Pakawau Beach Park camp.
The 400-page application, submitted to TDC in December and publicly notified from the first week of February, is for what is titled the “Pakawau Village.” It outlines his latest plans for building 20 single-level condominium-style apartments that will be offered for sale for anywhere between $400,000 and $500,000 each.
“I’ve gone to extreme lengths to make sure this one complies with all council regulations,” says Mr Carter. “Keeping the camp going is not an option for me anymore. It’s completely uneconomic as it is and I’ve been putting money into it for years now just to keep it going. Pakawau as a community is dying, so I believe this new development will be a big plus for the area…Let’s face it: older, more well-heeled tourists are always looking for good accommodation and there just isn’t that much on this side of the Bay.”
Under the application, prospective purchasers would get their own freehold “unit title” for the apartment and land underneath, as well as retain a share-in-common of the surrounding landscaped gardens. Mr Carter explains: “They might use them as full-time dwellings or just use them as holiday homes which could be rented out, all a bit like owning a seaside bach but without the hassle of maintaining a property. The application details that the 1.6-hectare property will be subdivided into two allotments; the shop with its house and petrol pumps along with one existing motel unit on Lot 1, and all the separate unit titles created for each apartment in Lot 2.” Eight existing cabins would have to go to provide the space for the new buildings.
Designed by Arthouse Architecture Ltd of Nelson, the apartments are grouped in clusters and built to environmentally sustainable principles. Each unit will feature solar-powered hot water and underfloor heating. The one, two and three-bedroom option buildings will all be set back 30 metres from the mean high spring tide mark, and all will feature a turf roof that will be no higher than five metres above the ground. The claim is made that only seven of the rooftops will actually be visible from out on the beach or even from a boat.
Mr Carter says that an application has also been made for a permit to discharge up to 14.6 cubic metres of secondary treated wastewater onto adjacent land via a “closed loaded trench” system. Mr Carter’s application also details the establishment of a “takeaway food facility” in the existing retail shop (which has been closed since 29 July, 2009), the hiring out of non-motorised recreation equipment, and the need to modify and disturb a cultural heritage site. He says the archeological investigation alone for this application has cost somewhere near $20,000, and he has lost count of what his total costs to date have been.
Along with associated earthworks for the buildings and accessways, the existing rock protection wall along the coastline of the property will be repaired and in some places rebuilt. The plan also proposes a public access route through the property to the beach, and establishment of a new public esplanade reserve.
Mr Carter’s first two consent applications for the property were unsuccessful. In October 2007, he withdrew plans for a multi-level holiday resort of 48 apartments – which included a gym, café, conference centre and attached restaurant - after it attracted 175 submissions opposing it from Golden Bay residents. He then applied in August 2008 to build 30 units on the site, but withdrew his application just a week before it was due to go to hearing because of continuing opposition.
Planners Staig and Smith of Nelson have prepared Mr Carter’s latest application. Their consultant Jackie MacNee comments: “We feel this one is a complete redesign. Our client has listened to previous concerns about the height of buildings and their setback distance from the coast, which is why all buildings will be kept to a five-metre height maximum and 30 metres back from the coast as required by normal coastal regulations. Density was an issue too, so 20 units is a significant reduction with this application. Keeping the shop and fuel pumps open for the wider community is also a priority.”
If the consent doesn’t make it through this time, Mr Carter said: “The only feasible thing left might be to subdivide it into a permitted nine or ten sections and sell them off, but I believe that would be a terrible thing for Pakawau. Some of the most recent sections that were subdivided off have stayed unsold at Pakawau for over two years. We don’t really need any more of them. This camp has been operating commercially for 60 years; it’s permitted to have 230 people to stay. It’d be a shame to put such a big commercial property like this out of the local equation. A development like this would stimulate the place. One of the main tenets of becoming a sustainable community is that it has to be economic too. This plan is one way of doing it. I’d really appreciate it if people take the time to actually read my application and put in a positive submission if they feel so moved.”
Deadline for submissions to TDC on the application is 4.30pm on February 26.
Gerard Hindmarsh
