Proposed quarry has residents up in arms

Rural Carterton residents are concerned about the environmental and personal impact of having a quarry within 200 metres of their homes, but the developer says he has followed the rules.

More than 20 people living in the Parkers Rd area will potentially be affected by noise, dust, and the vibrations of daily passing trucks if the proposed quarry goes ahead.

Kieran Oliver, who is the applicant for the consent from Greater Wellington Regional Council [GWRC] for the quarry at 75 Parkers Rd, said the correct process was followed.

Parkers Road, just outside Carterton township, is a quiet, leafy area in the foothills of the Tararua Range. Children play in paddocks on the side of the road, and birdsong is easy to hear.

The quarry site is not visible from the road, but a large earthmoving operation with large piles of aggregate all around can be clearly viewed from a neighbouring property.

Local resident Penny Deys fears the tranquillity of the neighbourhood could soon be a thing of the past if the quarry goes ahead. She works from home and values the peace and quiet of the rural area. She and others question why GWRC has not consulted them as part of the consenting process.

She said an application to GWRC had asked for 180,000 cubic metres of material to be quarried.

Deys, who lives in one of five households within a few hundred metres of the proposed site, said her first inkling something was happening was when she was woken up by nearby noise early one morning in May.

“I heard a digger at 6.20 am,” she said.

“I rang Kieran Oliver and said, ‘What is that noise?’, and he said ‘That’s a digger’.

“By ten to seven, there were trucks.

“That day I rang the council.” Deys said the activity then ramped up and “we started noticing trucks coming and going at all hours of the day”.

She said the noise and activity are hard to miss.

“We hear them getting loaded, and then we hear the digger beep. It sounds like massive rocks hitting the ceiling from a height. It’s hideous. It’s extremely noisy.”

Christine Grasenack lives nearby and is also affected. She said the character of the neighbourhood is at risk of being compromised, and the rights of rural residents are being ignored.

“It’s not a normal road, people need to be aware of that. It is a very rural road, narrow and small. We have a lot of people who walk up and down it for enjoyment because there’s not much traffic.”

Her husband Thomas agrees.

“People like walking here because they know they are safe, there’s no speeding. Some people come up here on horses. That cannot happen anymore,” he said.

But Oliver said the proper process to get the consent has been followed.

“The project in question requires resource consent from the local and regional council. The application process has been followed correctly – one consent has been granted and one is being finalised. We have discussed infrastructure capability with the council and consequently reduced the quantity and time frame of the project to suit their requirements,” Oliver said.

GWRC environment group manager Lian Butcher confirmed the regional council is processing the resource consent application.

“The applicant proposes to extract rock from a six-hectare area across a 47-hectare property over a 12-month period. No processing of the material is proposed onsite,” she said.

There is a split jurisdiction between the regional council and district council for regulating the activity, Butcher noted. GWRC is responsible for regulating effects on the environment, including surface and ground water, and air quality. Carterton District Council [CDC] is responsible for rules relating to the activity type and things like traffic movements, safety and vibration, and road maintenance.

Butcher said her understanding from CDC is that quarrying is a permitted activity under the current district plan.

She said GWRC anticipates the consent will be processed non-notified [without a hearing].

Things affecting the decision for a non-notified consent included potential adverse effects on surface and ground water, erosion and sediment control, and air quality, and whether any parties are adversely affected by those factors.

“When reaching our decision, we also consider mitigation proposed by the applicant, including erosion and sediment control and dust mitigation measures,” she said.

“Matters we do not consider include those outside our jurisdiction, like traffic movements, safety and vibration, and road maintenance.”

Conditions could be imposed on a resource consent to mitigate adverse effects.

A spokesperson for CDC said the consent process is with GWRC, and the council can not comment on matters relating to it.

“The activity itself is permitted, and as such council has no ability to impose mitigation measures,” the spokesperson said.

“Council issued a consent for the storage of one excavator on the site overnight. Without the consent, the applicant would still be able to transport the excavator to and from the site each day. This is a short-term consent duration for less than two years.”

– NZLDR

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