St Andrews project lands in rough

BY NATALIE AKOORIE

The battle over a proposed $40 million retirement village overlooking the St Andrews golf course in Hamilton has taken a new twist after the Auckland developer failed to buy the land in December.

Now Radius Property Holdings Ltd has asked the Environment Court to adjourn a hearing into its appeal against the Hamilton City Council for denying resource consent to build the 85-unit complex.

But the land owner – the D V Bryant Trust – wants the appeal heard anyway.

Radius Property Holdings agreed to buy the land at 26 Delamare Rd in St Andrews last July, but it and parent company and guarantor Radius Properties Ltd did not settle the purchase on December 18.

The land, with a capital value of $3.5m, is the site of the former Bryant Park retirement village.

Neighbours formed the St Andrews Community Advocacy Group, vehemently opposing the development, calling it a monstrosity out of keeping with the area and which would create too much traffic.

When the council declined resource consent for the development, Radius Holdings appealed the decision and a hearing was set down in the Environment Court for May this year.

However in February, two months after Radius failed to settle purchase of the land, the group filed an application for adjournment of the appeal hearing.

The application followed delays by Radius in responding to a timetable process for the hearing because of "corporate restructuring".

Lawyers for the group said those changes had "implications for the funding available" to Radius Holdings to progress the appeal.

Last month the Bryant Trust served a summary judgment application against Radius Holdings over the defaulted purchase, in the High Court at Auckland. The case is set down for a first call on March 31.

At the same time trust chairman and barrister Doug Arcus wrote to the Environment Court, on behalf of Bryant Trust, supporting the application for an adjournment to the hearing.

In the letter Mr Arcus said if Radius Holdings ignored the High Court action seeking sale of the land or damages, then the trust may take over the Environment Court appeal against the council's decision declining the consent.

St Andrews Community Advocacy Group spokesman Alan Vallinga said the residents were not surprised Radius had defaulted on the land deal.

"It's not surprising and of course that makes the whole situation even more grave... because if an appeal in the Environment Court finds in favour of the appellant we're going to be dealing with a company that's having difficulty even committing itself financially to a proposal of this nature."

Mr Vallinga said even more concerning was that the Bryant Trust had indicated it might take the place of Radius Holdings in the appeal.

"Having a charitable trust basically defending something that is of community interest to the whole of Hamilton, in principle, I find very difficult to come to terms with."

Radius Properties Ltd (RPL) director David Glenn said Radius Holdings no longer had any directors and parent company RPL had taken on a new board and manager in October last year.

"We're trying to return Radius Properties Ltd back to what it was originally supposed to do and be involved with resthome hospitals."

Mr Glenn, of fund manager Ascot Capital, said the new directors did not believe RPL had any interest in the Hamilton land.

"We don't believe that Radius Properties Ltd should be a party to any of Delamare Rd, at all. We're getting to grips with the company with a number of situations that we've inherited."

He said he was "not involved" with the application for adjournment with the Environment Court but was aware of it.

Mr Arcus said Bryant Trust had not yet decided whether it would pursue the appeal in place of Radius Holdings.

He defended the trust's right to pursue resource consent for the development.

"The trust will make up its own mind what it wants to do with its own assets. Our primary purpose is to fund human welfare in the Waikato, and so our primary concern is to make sure that the assets of our trust are maintained and if possible grown for the benefit of those beneficiaries."

Mr Arcus expected a judicial conference into the adjournment application in a few weeks.

DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE

August 2008: Radius Property Holdings Ltd lodges resource consent application with Hamilton City Council for a $40 million, 85-apartment retirement complex in Delamare Rd.

September 2008: St Andrews Community Advocacy Group of 58 neighbours make submissions opposing the development.

February 2009: HCC turns down resource consent for the project.

March 2009: Radius Holdings lodges appeal to the Environment Court decision.

December 2009: Environment Court hearing date is set for May, 2010.

December 2009: Radius Holdings and guarantor Radius Properties Ltd fail to settle purchase of land at 26 Delamare Rd, owned by the Bryant Trust.

February 2010: Radius Holdings files application for adjournment of the Environment Court hearing after delays due to "corporate restructuring".

February 2010: Bryant Trust takes the matter to the High Court.

- © Fairfax NZ News