ASL Success in the Environment Court

Andrew Stewart Ltd recently received an Environment Court decision related to an appeal on the resource consents for the Paihia Waterfront Development Project.  Max Dunn, ASL’s Planning Manager has been working for Far North Holdings Ltd on this project for which consent was granted from the Far North District Council and Northland Regional Council in March 2009.

Following the granting of consents, an appeal was lodged with the Environment Court by the Department of Conservation.  Several other parties joined the appeal as ‘s274 parties’ (s274 of the RMA allows submitters to ‘piggy-back’ on an appeal lodged by another party, if the issues raised in the appeal are similar to the concerns of the s274 party).

With ASL’s assistance, the client entered into mediation with DoC and the s274 parties and came to an agreement with all parties bar one, to settle the appeal by consent conditions.  The recent Court decision ‘struck out’ the remaining s274 party to the appeal, on the grounds that the DoC appeal did not include matters of concern to the s274 party.  This represents a success for our client and we look forward to the final consent notice from the Court to settle the appeals once and for all.

While the RMA process can be a frustrating hurdle for development, ASL strives to achieve success for our clients through a pragmatic approach and proven technical experience.  For representation in the Environment Court or resource consent hearings, contact ASL.