Proposal to build on high-class soil opposed

Jim O'Malley
Jim O'Malley
A plan to subdivide a former market garden in Outram has been criticised by opponents who say it will waste land that could form part of Dunedin's ''food basket''.

The land, near Outram School, features high-class soil they say needs to be protected on the Taieri.

But the developer argued at a resource consent hearing it was no longer economically viable to farm the small site.

At the moment it was in grass and being used for baleage, something that only paid for the property's rates.

CC Otago Ltd director Craig Horne has applied for consent to establish a residence on 1.6ha of land at 91 Formby St and to subdivide 99 Formby St into eight lots along the street frontage with a larger, 2.6ha, lot behind.

In her report, council planner Lianne Darby said the developments on both would be non-complying: both were a mixture of residential land on the street frontage and rural land behind.

Mrs Darby recommended the council grant consent for 91 Formby St.

For 99, however, she recommended it grant consent in part.

She told a hearings committee of commissioner Keith Hovell, Cr Jim O'Malley and Otago regional councillor Andrew Noone the site had enough residential land for eight dwellings to be built within the rules of the district plan.

She said the rural-zoned land should be held as a single entity as part of one of the eight residential dwellings, providing a building block for the rural land, ensuring it could continue as a productive block.

In his evidence, Mr Horne's counsel, Allan Cubitt, said the properties had been a market garden, farmed in conjunction with another property until recently.

They were now used for baleage and were no longer economic as market gardens, Mr Cubitt said.

The fact the council had zoned the street frontage residential ''is a clear indication that council sees this area as appropriate for future development''.

Mr Horne said the land was not at risk of flooding as other parts of Outram had been in the July floods.

He told Mr Noone it was about 1m to 2m higher than most of Outram's residential land.

There were five submissions opposing the consent, and one neutral.

Andy Barratt spoke to his submissions on behalf of Our Food Network, which he said promoted local food.

He commended the Dunedin City Council on setting minimum lot sizes for rural zones, which had ''ensured the rural zone has not been subjected to the sort of fragmentation that has blighted the peri-urban zone of a number of New Zealand cities''.

For Dunedin Rural Development, which worked to help develop rural zones with commercial potential, Murray Harris said 3723ha on the Taieri was classified as high-class soils.

Those soils had formed over thousands of years.

There were not a lot of large areas left, and they needed to be protected.

''This area is prime land.''

Food security was an issue ''throughout New Zealand'', Mr Harris said.

Patricia Scott, of Outram, said she had lived on the Taieri for 50 years.

If all recent residential consents were taken into account, there could be 50 or 60 new homes built in the township, a 25% increase on a housing stock of 249 in a town with no wastewater or sewerage system.

But Mrs Scott said the protection of high-class soils was the most important issue.

There was an increasing preference for locally grown food and, considering food security issues, the Taieri might, perhaps in 20 years' time, once again become the food basket of Dunedin.

''The Dunedin City Council cannot continue to allow residential development on this vital resource.''

In response, Mr Cubitt said while the proposal might not enhance the position in terms of rural soil and rural use, ''it doesn't worsen it either''.

''You can't force people to use land the way you want them to. You can encourage them to use it a certain way.''

The proposal was the best way to use the land more productively than it was.

The committee moved to non-public discussion on the application.

david.loughrey@odt.co.nz

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