In the previous item (below) about the subdivision at 518 West Coast Rd I cited an adjoining property owner who phoned the Council and reported being told that Council “could neither confirm nor deny that a subdivision was planned, and furthermore that under existing legislation certain organisations are able to apply to subdivide properties without notification to neighbours, and have their details withheld by the Council.”
It’s possible the Council officer spoken to was referring to the rules regarding an official information request – e.g. Section 7 and Section 8 of the relevant Act – which do not apply to 518 West Coast Rd.
I called Auckland Council and was told that as soon as a resource consent is lodged it becomes public information. The property file for 518 West Coast Rd is freely available for public inspection, so I had a look at it. It’s being held under my name until Friday Sept 21st – which means it’s immediately available if you ask at the counter at the Council’s Henderson Service Centre (the former Waitakere City Council offices). If you’d like to look at it after Friday, call Council on 301 0101 and request the property file and subdivision file for 518 West Coast Rd. It’ll be available within 24 hours.
The resource consent application was processed on a non-notified basis, which means that the developer did not have to notify the public at large, nor the owners of adjoining properties. You can read the reasons for this by clicking on the link below:
Notification Assessment 518 West Coast Rd (1.4 MB)
Note that Section 95D of the Resource Management Act states “A consent authority that is deciding … whether an activity … is likely to have adverse effects on the environment that are more than minor … must disregard any effects on persons who own or occupy … any land adjacent to that land …”
This condition was inserted into the Act in 2009.
Accordingly, the notification assessment states that the Council has disregarded the effects of the subdivision on the owners and occupiers of Nos. 520, 522, 516, 532, & 534 West Coast Rd, Nos. 18A & 18F Maynell Court, and No. 306B Glengarry Road.
The Council has imposed a condition to “future proof walkway options” through the property. Click below to read the email between Council officers about this.
The whole consent process was not well handled by Council, who actually apologised to the applicant. In the letter, under the heading “Process” the writer notes that part of the process was bypassed which “would have involved Local Board Approval before being considered centrally.” The writer says this is because Parks “had a new process to deal with that they didn’t fully understand either.” You can read the relevant page by clicking the link below:
The applicant is Daniel Thomas, a director of a recently formed company called 518 West Coast Rd Ltd. You can find out more about the applicant and the company directors by searching on the Companies Office website here.
Apart from the bypassing of Local Board approval (a Council error) the applicant seems to have played by the rules. Whether those rules are acceptable to neighbouring property owners and the wider Oratia community, and whether we should take any action to have the rules changed is another matter.
Your comments are welcome. Use the comment link below to have your say, or email the Oratia R&R at oratia@oratia.org.nz
– Gary Henderson