Commercial development – vital to achieving long-term community growth
Foodstuffs
The recent Raeward Fresh Dunedin consent whilst pleasing
on one hand does highlight some of the challenges currently faced
by property developers. The stipulations that come with the
consent, whether intentional or not, have made Foodstuffs South
Island Ltd question the financial viability of the
business.
Roger Davidson, General Manager Property and Retail
Development, says "We understand the need for legislation but it
needs to be balanced with a pragmatic approach that gives
communities the ability to enhance their neighbourhood both now and
into the future."
Increasingly developers are faced with more difficulties,
and costs, as they try and get a project underway. There are a
number of fundamental assessments associated with gaining resource
consent including traffic, planning, acoustic, geotech and
hazardous substance reports and depending on whether the consent is
non-notified or notified the costs can range from $50,000 to over
$300,000 with the risk of a consent outcome that is not fit for
purpose.
There is a lot of uncertainty for developers due to the
legislation being open to interpretation by various parties and the
look of a building or development is often considered more
important than its function. Davidson adds that this is commonly
referred to as placing "form over function" which in turn may bring
a whole development into question.
"Imagine an airport gaining resource consent but one of the
key stipulations is that it can't have a runway because its
considered visually unappealing," says Davidson. "Would the airport
still be considered viable?"
According to Davidson this doesn't have to be the
case.
"Many of Foodstuffs most successful developments have been a
collaborative approach between Foodstuffs, local government and the
community. A recent example of this would be New World Redcliffs,
which is located in an area hugely impacted by the earthquakes and
which was desperately in need of regeneration. The new store
provided not only much needed jobs and supermarket services but
boosted the confidence of the community and signalled the beginning
of further investment in the suburb," says Davidson. "And in the
case of PAK'nSAVE Wainoni the council saw that the positive aspects
of the proposal to re-build next to the existing store far
out-weighed any negatives. By keeping the existing store
operational we ensured 285 staff remained employed throughout the
process, and the supermarket was able to continue meeting the
grocery needs of the eastern suburbs community."
It appears that in case of Raeward Fresh Dunedin, there is a
greater emphasis on preserving the integrity of an industrial zone
over the benefits of promoting new investment and employment
opportunities to South Dunedin. To use the conditions of a resource
consent to restrict the type of products a business can sell
appears to go beyond the bounds of what was intended by the
Resource Management Act. The Act is there to protect the natural
and physical resources for the benefit of current and future
generations and provide for social and economic well-being, not
rewrite the business models of applicants.
"We have already gone to significant expense to get the
application to this stage and based on the stipulation made we are
now faced with going through the costly court process to
re-establish what its business model is. Something which is
somewhat perplexing when the hearing commissioners stated in their
decision that the effects of our development on the surrounding
environment 'are no more than minor'," says Davidson.
"Unfortunately, this means we have no option but to reconsider our
investment and explore other opportunities that present themselves,
something which we believe is a real shame for the South Dunedin
community."
The legislation is in place to protect communities and is
important but, it can't account for every eventuality. Ongoing
development is critical to ensure the continued social and economic
well-being of our communities is maintained, not only for us to
enjoy today but for our children and our grandchildren but for many
more generations to come.
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