Date set for Kakanui camp ground hearing

The legality of the Kakanui Camping Ground is going back to a resource consent hearing with the Waitaki District Council early next month - the latest round in a dispute going back more than 15 years.

Camp owner Allan Jones, through his company, Equipment and Support Ltd, has applied to the council for land-use resource consent to establish and operate visitor accommodation on the 1.22ha site on the south side of the Kakanui River next to Waianakarua Rd.

That application followed an Environment Court hearing in October when Judge Gordon Whiting issued an interim decision ordering the camp to cease operating except for five camping sites at any one time (it has 30 tent and caravan sites) and apply to the council for resource consent.

The council advertised the application and called for public submissions, which closed last month. Council planning manager David Campbell said yesterday four submissions were received - three opposed and one neutral - from neighbours of the camping ground.

A public hearing had been set down for February 7 and the council had appointed a commissioner, Allan Cubitt, to consider the application.

The Environment Court hearing in October was an appeal by Mr Jones against an abatement notice from the council to stop operating the camp. He claimed existing use rights, but the issue was the size of the operation.

Part way through the hearing, Judge Whiting issued the decision that led to the latest application for resource consent. That application involves constructing an A-frame building with one bedroom and a mezzanine shed; converting an existing garage into an ablution block; building two one-bedroom cabins; providing 20 or 30 powered and unpowered sites; vehicle access off Waianakarua Rd for no more than 20 sites and vehicle access off River Rd (subject to roading improvements) for 21 to 30 sites; erecting a sign on Waianakarua Rd; and site landscaping. Most of that is already on the site.

The development would be staged, with stage 1 limited to 20 campervan, caravan or tent sites, vehicle movements to and from Waianakarua Rd being monitored. If there were more than 80 movements a day, the site would be closed to any additional campers.

Stage 2 would enable up to 30 sites, but only when access to River Rd was available after upgrading of intersections at Harbour Tce and Waianakarua Rd to the council's satisfaction.

david.bruce@odt.co.nz