A public meeting was held at the Mount Surf Club lat night, Tuesday 18th June regarding Plan Change 33 which allows high rise buildings up to 6 stories high (22 meters) in the Mount North area (between the Mount and Sutherland Ave).
Photo from media release by Mount Matters (Mount Matters Facebook Page) .
The meeting was organised by Sam Ackerman for Mount Matters. We heard from three speakers; Peter Cooney a local developer, Kate Barry-Piceno a practicing local lawyer, and Barry Brown a retired lawyer, who are all opposed to the plan change.
The relevant plan change provisions have been referred to Penny Simmonds, Minister of the environment, and Chris Bishop, minister for RMA reform, by the commissioners. As a Mayoral candidate, I have previously written to the ministers requesting that they defer their decision until after the election.
Normally, referrals are handled quite quickly, so that normally a decision would be expected within the next two to three weeks. Tom Rutherford, MP for Bay Of Plenty, thinks that the ministers will defer their decision until after the election, and are likely to then also consider the opinion of the new council. We will have to wait and see. If the commissioners recommendation is upheld, the alternative is for the new council to make a further plan change to reverse the decision.
The referral to the ministers can not be withdrawn, but must proceed. There is no right of appeal to the ministers decision. I have not had a reply from the ministers.
I do not support the 6 stories (22 meters) height in the Mount North area.
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