Fears for paeony business

Members of a joint Waimate District Council and Environment Canterbury hearings panel (from left) Environment Canterbury councillor Bronwen Murray, Waimate councillor Peter McIlraith and independent commissioner and panel chairman Bob Nixon, at the siteof a new $90 million milk treatment plant proposed by Oceania Dairy Ltd about 3.5km north of Glenavy. Photo by David Bruce.

Andrew and Jane McFarlane, through their family trust, Mairos Trust, oppose a proposal by Oceania Milk Ltd to build the plant on a 5ha site on Cooneys Rd, 2.2km from their house.

"Please do not let this happen and please don't gamble with our business," Mr McFarlane yesterday pleaded with a joint Waimate District Council and Environment Canterbury (ECan) hearings panel that will decide whether to grant five resource consents for the plant.

The McFarlanes say the plant will affect their paeony export business, the view from their home and future development of their 258ha dairy farm.

Mr McFarlane said the paeony business had been going since 2002, and sold about 25,000 herbaceous stems a year, either for export or on the local market.

About 3000 tree paeony stems were sold, mostly to New York.

"We understand we are the only family in New Zealand exporting tree paeonies," he said.

Mr McFarlane was particularly worried about higher groundwater levels from spraying milk waste on to pasture half a kilometre from his property.

Changes in nutrient levels, including sodium chloride (salt), could kill the paeonies, cause stem rot, bud rot and premature petal fall.

"Any of these would be devastating," he said.

When they relocated a house to the property in 1997, it was situated to make the most of uninterrupted views from the northeast to the southwest.

The garden was planned by a landscape architect to enhance those views.

The Waimate district plan has a building height limit of 10m in the rural zone.

The proposed factory would have a 37m-high dryer tower and 45m-high boiler stack.

"We never imagined that a 45m-high milk-processing factory would be constructed within this view," Mr McFarlane said.

Agricultural and horticultural consultant Alex Smith said the Mairos Trust and others down-gradient from the plant would experience an increase in the water table.

This additional water, along with the contaminants, could cause significant economic loss to the McFarlanes' paeony crop and dairy pasture, he said.

Landscape architect Jeremy Head said the McFarlanes were the only people who would have clear views of the plant from the indoor and outdoor areas of their home.

Any mitigation planting to screen the plant would take 20 to 25 years to be effective, an unreasonable burden to place on a neighbour, he said.

Murphy Farms Ltd, represented by Robin Murphy, was worried contaminants from the coal-fired boiler would be brought over the property by the prevailing northeast wind.

"We have two asthmatics in the family and fear for their wellbeing," Mr Murphy said.

He wanted electricity or another clean fuel to power the boiler.

He too was concerned about the effect on groundwater of drainage from the site, and had suggested Oceania pipe waste water to sea.

Traffic turning from State Highway 1 into Cooneys Rd to reach the site would be a hazard, he said.

The hearing concluded yesterday.

Oceania Dairy hearing
- What: $90 million plant processing milk from up to 50,000 cows.
-
Who: Oceania Dairy Ltd.
- Where: East of SH1 on Cooneys Rd, about 3.5km north of Glenavy.
- Needs: 4 resource consents from Environment Canterbury and 1 from Waimate District Council.
- Consents hearing: Waimate District Council, Monday and yesterday.
- Hearings panel: Waimate councillor Peter McIlraith, Environment Canterbury councillor Bronwen Murray, independent commissioner Bob Nixon (chairman).
- Decision: Likely in February.