The project would increase total housing stock and generate additional infrastructure funding through fees and levies, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our view we submitted a robust application.<\/p>\n
\u201dThe draft decision is what it is, and we need to address the matters raised in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 1250-home Delmore development near \u014crewa was among the first three projects to get to the next stage of the Government’s fast-track consenting regime and go before an expert panel. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
National urgency vs local voices<\/p>\n
Delmore\u2019s rocky fast-track journey highlights how the Government\u2019s drive for swift housing and economic growth could pit it against the country\u2019s councils and residents.<\/p>\n
It voted the fast-track scheme into law last December so big infrastructure projects could gain speedy planning approval.<\/p>\n
Delmore was one of the first three projects given permission to try its luck.<\/p>\n
In March, NZ First minister Shane Jones praised the development during the International Investment Summit.<\/p>\n
\u201cProjects like this are critical to growing our country\u2019s economy, meaning more jobs and higher wages \u2013 making all New Zealanders better off,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
However, when Delmore hit hurdles, he and Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop expressed frustration and suggested they would tweak the scheme to help future projects get through. <\/p>\n
Jones said a fast-track scheme needed to be a one-stop shop that consulted less and spent more time getting things done.<\/p>\n
Bishop told Newsroom he remained optimistic about the scheme, but said its slow progress meant he would be making changes.<\/p>\n
The main issue at stake with the proposed development is where the houses are due to spring up.<\/p>\n
Delmore had chosen to build outside the Auckland areas in which Watercare and council planned to deliver infrastructure services in the near term, the local bodies said.<\/p>\n
That made the developer responsible for delivering permanent or longer-term water, roading and other infrastructure for future residents at the site, they argued.<\/p>\n
The developer had instead sought to jump the queue and force local bodies to roll out expensive infrastructure to its door ahead of schedule and at great cost to taxpayers and other users, they said.<\/p>\n
Watercare said it had no plans to deliver drinking water connections to the Delmore site before 2038.<\/p>\n
Wastewater wouldn\u2019t be connected before 2050.<\/p>\n
Delivering connections for Delmore\u2019s benefit would force Watercare to expedite $1.4 billion worth of projects, it said.<\/p>\n
Auckland Transport said it would also have to find an extra $460m outside its budget before roads around the development would be safe and useful.<\/p>\n
The Delmore development is planned for close to the 450-plus Strathmill project (pictured), which is being built by the same larger development group Myland Partners. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
There\u2019s room for us too: Developer <\/p>\n
Delmore\u2019s consultants pushed back on Watercare\u2019s claims there was no spare water.<\/p>\n
Project supporters included Local Government Minister Simon Watts, who wrote a letter saying Watercare\u2019s July 1 separation from Auckland Council gave it greater ability to borrow and spend money on infrastructure.<\/p>\n
He would be using that, together with his ministerial weight, to explore \u201cwhat can be done to accelerate Watercare\u2019s investment in the Hibiscus Coast network\u201d.<\/p>\n
Delmore\u2019s consultants claimed they had run modelling using Watercare data showing the existing wastewater network could immediately supply an extra 3700 homes \u2013 more than enough for its 1250 planned homes.<\/p>\n
The developers also put forward alternative proposals for managing wastewater should the public pipes not reach their site any time soon. <\/p>\n
That included building a temporary $15m wastewater treatment plant owned by a residents\u2019 association. The association would then be required to manage the plant according to professional standards, the developers said.<\/p>\n
Delmore\u2019s team said the plant could run until the public water connection arrived, at which point the facility could be decommissioned and turned into more houses.<\/p>\n
Another alternative involved trucking sewage and wastewater offsite to Watercare\u2019s treatment plants.<\/p>\n
Fawcet argued the project was regionally important and worthy of approval.<\/p>\n
He wanted to help fulfil the Government\u2019s desire for fast new homes \u201cto address Auckland\u2019s chronic housing shortage and help stop young people moving elsewhere\u201d.<\/p>\n
Benefits overstated: Planning panel<\/p>\n
Ultimately, Delmore\u2019s arguments fell flat.<\/p>\n
The planning panel sided with local authorities and neighbours opposing the project, saying unless the developer could drastically improve its proposal it was heading for rejection.<\/p>\n
The panel said Delmore\u2019s claimed economic benefits were overstated and did not justify expensive infrastructure projects being brought forward on its behalf.<\/p>\n
Watercare and council have often stressed the importance of careful planning for housing and infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Planning certainty gave investors greater faith, made projects more affordable and allowed roads, water treatment plants, schools, hospitals and shops to be built to the best standards.<\/p>\n
Watercare said its major upcoming build programmes were already funded and planned.<\/p>\n
Altering them for \u201cout-of-sequence development\u201d would move funding from parts of the city where people already lived, it said.<\/p>\n
Auckland Transport agreed, saying ratepayers would need to pick up the shortfall if it prioritised roading near Delmore over its own projects.<\/p>\n
Auckland Council said the project\u2019s shortcomings meant ratepayers might have to cover operational and capital costs, \u201cwhich council is not in a position to absorb\u201d.<\/p>\n
Watercare rejected the developer\u2019s wastewater proposals and said Delmore\u2019s modelling that the council-controlled organisation had enough capacity for the project was flawed.<\/p>\n
It was not interested in taking future ownership of private plants.<\/p>\n
That could potentially leave taxpayers paying for problems caused by poor design, while creating headaches linked to running a hotch-potch of small, unconnected facilities, it said.<\/p>\n
Auckland Council said asking homeowners to run complicated facilities raised similar concerns.<\/p>\n
Homeowners could face unexpected running and ownership costs, plus additional risks if a builder went into liquidation or a multimillion-dollar plant needed replacement, it said.<\/p>\n
Whitford wastewater warning<\/p>\n
The council pointed to South Auckland\u2019s Whitford Manor Estate as an example of the risks associated with off-grid wastewater solutions going wrong.<\/p>\n
Residents at the estate told the Herald they thought they were buying into a luxury country lifestyle but were instead left gagging at the \u201csmell of raw human waste\u201d.<\/p>\n
That was because of sewage overflows and a lack of progress building a private wastewater treatment plant once sales dropped and the development company went into receivership. <\/p>\n
\u201cI would hate for more unsuspecting innocent people to end up in the same position as all of us,\u201d one resident said in an email to Mayor Wayne Brown. <\/p>\n
After weighing the evidence, the expert planning panel decided that Delmore\u2019s \u201cadverse impacts [and] effects … are so significant that they are out of proportion to the project\u2019s regional benefits\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rather than a boon, it was being built in an area without sufficient public infrastructure \u2013 where wastewater…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[26347,74,9092,26345,23607,51,3952,3269,5205,7558,26342,170,2245,1601,222,1888,266,7237,3339,1702,111,43,139,69,12253,26344,2170,26346,3263,22053,26343,3048,22312],"class_list":["post-26143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-1250home","tag-after","tag-against","tag-agenda","tag-approach","tag-auckland","tag-aucklands","tag-build","tag-council","tag-councils","tag-delmore","tag-development","tag-early","tag-expert","tag-fast","tag-first","tag-government","tag-governments","tag-housing","tag-infrastructure","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-panel","tag-pits","tag-plan","tag-planned","tag-project","tag-reject","tag-rejection","tag-said","tag-scored"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}