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Marina one step closer

Friday 28 November 2008, 11:40AM

By Whakatane District Council

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WHAKATANE

The Whakatane District Council and the Whakatane Marina Society have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the sale and purchase of Council owned land for the development of a marina.

‘Our offer gives the Marina Society an opportunity to proceed to apply for a resource consent with some certainty about the availability of land’, says Mayor Colin Holmes. ‘The community will have an opportunity to become involved in the resource consent process if they wish’.

‘The purchase price will be decided by way of independent market valuation at the time of the sale, which means that the Marina Society would pay a fair price for the property and the community receive market value for the land,’ says Mr Holmes.

Marina society spokesman Trevor Hart says the Society has wanted to build a marina for many years. “Having some certainty that this land is available should the Society be successful in its application for resource consent is a key milestone in the journey.”

During the 2007/2008 Annual Plan consultation process the Marina Society approached the Council requesting it to consider selling to the Society land north of the Whakatane River to build a marina.

The land referred to as 60 Bunyan Road property was acquired in 1982 by the Council for the purpose of developing playing fields. In January 2007 the Council undertook public consultation; through this process the majority of submitters indicated that the land was not required for the public work.

The Council was then required to offer the 60 Bunyan Road back to the previous owner, this was done and the owner declined the offer. On completion of this formal process the Council was then able to enter into negotiations with the Marina Society for the sale of both properties.