Commissioners uphold granting of resource consent for Port Marsden Service Centre

Independent Hearing Commissioners have released a joint decision upholding Whangarei District Council and Northland Regional Council recommendations that resource consents should be granted for a proposed Port Marsden Service Centre.

The decision follows a joint hearing held on 9-10 June 2011 for the resource consent applications by Wolf 2008 Limited to establish and operate a 24/7 highway service centre on a 28 hectare site at 63 Port Marsden Highway (SH15A).

The site is approximately 500m north of the roundabout intersection with State Highway 1 (SH1) at Ruakaka and is zoned Countryside Environment under the Operative Whangarei District Plan.

The proposed development will be known as the Port Marsden Service Centre and will house a range of activities including a petrol station with a car and boat wash; a motel/hotel incorporating a conference centre, house bar/restaurant and manager’s accommodation; a fast food outlet; a roadhouse bar/café and small-scale retail; storage units and a boat storage area; a campervan park and cabins; and a truck stop complex with a truck wash, truck refuelling facilities, and truck servicing.

The proposal required consent from Northland Regional Council for earthworks, stormwater, water diversion, and stream works. Under the Operative Whangarei District Plan, land use consent was required for hazardous substances, traffic movements, parking, infringements of several bulk and location controls, and general activities.

Sixty submissions, both for and against, were received by WDC and 22 by NRC. The submissions were primarily from landowners or occupiers within the immediate locality, interest groups or organisations (including local iwi, Northport, the New Zealand Transport Agency), local environmental and community groups and businesses, and trucking interests.

Commissioners Greg Hill and Alan Bickers said that the main issues for the Regional Council consents were whether the development would increase the risk of flooding in the surrounding area; whether on-site stormwater management could be done in such a way as to ensure the site itself would not be flooded; and whether the potential for pollution of the Tauroa Stream, Ruakaka River and Ruakaka Wildlife Refuge had been addressed appropriately.

The main issues for the District Council consents included consistency with the ‘Countryside Environment’ classification of the area in the District Plan and the Ruakaka Structure Plan; landscape and visual effects; traffic flows, particularly access to and from State Highway 15A; effects on tangata whenua; dust, noise, vibration, lighting and hazardous substances; the question of creating a precedent; and benefits to the travelling public and growth of area.

In making their decision, the commissioners acknowledged that flooding was a significant concern for submitters and that the site and surrounding area is prone to flooding. However the Commissioners concluded that the existing flood risk would not be made any worse because the site platform would be elevated and plans for on-site stormwater disposal methods were appropriate.

Consistency with the Countryside Environment and the Ruakaka Structure Plan, and the associated issues of landscape and visual effects, were carefully considered in the decision. The Commissioners concluded that the existing environment is not a ‘pristine rural environment’, and that from a visual amenity and landscape perspective it would remain similar to what it is now, due to the existing mix of rural and urban activities in the area, the proposed precinct controls and landscaping.

They were also satisfied with the consensus reached on traffic access onto and off SH15A by Whangarei District Council and the New Zealand Transport Agency, and the proposed traffic-related conditions of consent.

The 49 page decision is supplemented by two sets of conditions.