File: RM190119
paul.gibson@tasman.govt.nz Phone 03 528 2019 5 November 2020
Nelson Drag Racing Association C/- Davis Ogilvie
277 Hardy Street Nelson 7010
Dear Nelson Drag Racing Association
Decision on Notified Resource Consent Application RM190119 –
Land use consent to operate four drag racing events per year on Saturdays and/or Sundays at the Motueka Airport for a period of 10 years in the Rural 1 Zone at 124 Queen Victoria Street, Motueka
Your application for resource consent has been granted. A copy of the Council’s decision is attached. Please carefully read the conditions that have been attached to the consent and feel free to contact me if you have any questions about your consent or its conditions. My contact details are listed at the top of this letter.
Here are some matters that I need to highlight for you.
Section 120 of the Act provides you with the right to lodge an appeal with the Environment Court in respect of this decision and/or any associated conditions. Section 121 of the Act requires that any such appeal:
1 be made in the prescribed form;
2 state the reasons for the appeal and the relief sought; and
3 be lodged with both the Environment Court (PO Box 5027, Wellington 6145;
Phone (04) 918 8300 or Fax (04) 918 8480) and the Council by 26 November 2020.
If you receive a copy of an appeal from another party and you wish to be involved in the appeal process (i.e., be a “party to the proceedings”), then you need to advise the
Environment Court of this by 17 December 2020. Section 274 of the Act outlines the process to become a party to the appeal proceedings.
For further information or for forms see the Environment Court’s website at:
www.justice.govt.nz/courts/environment-court.
The final cost of processing your application has not been calculated yet. If the final cost exceeds the deposit already paid, then as we previously advised, you will be invoiced separately for the additional cost. If the final cost is less than the deposit already paid, then you will receive a refund. Where the costs are equal to the deposit already paid, no further action is required. You will receive a letter shortly about the final costs of processing your application.
2
5 November 2020
Letter to: Nelson Drag Racing Association
Please also note that this resource consent attracts a monitoring fee for which you will be invoiced separately. In addition, officers of the Council may also carry out site visits to monitor compliance with resource consent conditions.
You may commence your activity at the end of the appeal period unless the decision is appealed. However, it is important that you check the conditions of your consent carefully as some of them may require you to provide information and/or plans to the Council before you may commence your activity. In addition, in some cases you may also require other permits or building consents for your activity and these must be obtained before you can commence your activity.
Please note that under Section 125 of the Act, your consent will lapse in 5 years unless you have given effect to it before then.
Yours sincerely
Paul Gibson
Senior Consent Planner - Land Use
RESOURCE CONSENT DECISION
Resource consent number: RM190119
Pursuant to Section 104B of the Resource Management Act 1991 (“the Act”), the Tasman District Council (“the Council”) hereby grants resource consent to:
Nelson Drag Racing Association (hereinafter referred to as “the Consent Holder”)
Activity authorised: Land use consent to operate four drag racing events per year on Saturdays and/or Sundays, for a period of 10 years at the Motueka Airport in the Rural 1 Zone.
Location details:
Address of property: 124 Queen Victoria Street, Motueka Legal description: Lot 2 DP 18903
Record of title: NL12C/338 Valuation number: 1956054000
Co-ordinates: Easting: 1599439 Northing: 5448069 (NZTM)
Pursuant to Sections 108 and 108AA of the Act, this consent is issued subject to the following conditions:
CONDITIONS Personal Consent
1 The consent shall be personal to the Nelson Drag Racing Association. The consent may not be transferred to any other person or organisation.
General
2 The activity shall be undertaken in accordance with the documentation submitted with the application and attached Plans A and B RM190119 dated 5 November 2020.
Where there is any apparent conflict between the information provided with the application and any condition of this consent, the conditions shall prevail.
Events
3 A maximum of four events shall be held in any one year, and each event shall accommodate a maximum of 3000 people. The events shall only be held on Saturdays between 10.00 am and 4.00 pm.
Except that, the event may be extended to permit racing from 4.00 pm to 5.00 pm on Saturdays due to consequences of the days racing beyond the control of the Consent
Holder, i.e., major breakdowns of race monitoring equipment, flight landings or take- offs, a light shower of rain. The Consent Holder shall supply a written report to the Council’s Team Leader - Monitoring & Enforcement detailing the reasons for the 1 hour extension to racing on that day within 2 weeks after the event.
For 2 race days of the 4 race day season being:
(i) the National Race event; and (ii) Easter Saturday;
racing may be transferred to the next day (Sunday) if the previous day’s programme has been postponed as a result of inclement weather for either the full day or part day as follows:
In the event that a full race programme is required to be cancelled on the Saturday, such a decision being made prior to 10.00 am, the Consent Holder may transfer the entire race programme of 2 hours trial, 1 hour lunch break, 3 hours race programme to the next day Sunday.
In all other cases that part of the event of the race programme that is required to be transferred to the following day (Sunday) must not to commence before 1.00 pm and is to finish at 4.00 pm.
If the event is transferred to the following day (Sunday), the Club is to make every effort to advise immediate neighbours on the Saturday of the postponement.
Notification
4 The Consent Holder shall provide the Council’s Team Leader - Monitoring &
Enforcement and the Property Manager, the New Zealand Motor Caravan
Association (NZMCA) and Fire & Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) with written notice of each event at least 2 weeks prior to such event taking place.
Advice Note:
At the time of consent the contact for the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association (NZMCA) is enquiries@nzmca.org.nz and for Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) is PO Box 7003, Nelson 7042 (no email address on website). The contact details are subject to change.
Car Parking
5 An area sufficient to accommodate a minimum of 1000 on-site parking spaces shall be provided. Parking wardens shall direct traffic movements on and off the site and shall encourage people not to park on either College Street, Queen Victoria Street or Marchwood Park Road. The site layout at an event shall be in general accordance with attached Plan B RM190119 dated 5 November 2020.
Advice Note:
A copy of the event traffic management plan shall be made available to Council upon request.
Waste and Ablutions
6 Sufficient refuse containers shall be provided on site to the satisfaction of the Council’s Team Leader - Environmental Health. All litter from on-site activities shall
be collected on each event day and disposed of in a manner to the satisfaction of the Council’s Team Leader - Environmental Health.
Advice Note:
The Council operates a recycling trailer for events such as the one authorised by this consent. The trailer contains all equipment needed to enable recycling to be
collected at the event, which will reduce the costs of rubbish disposal. The trailer can be booked by contacting Council’s Engineering Services Department at the Council.
7 Toilet and hand-washing facilities shall be provided on site to the satisfaction of the Council’s Team Leader - Environmental Health at a ratio of 1 toilet per 150 people.
Air Emissions
8 The Consent Holder shall undertake all reasonable steps to minimise the emission of dust, smoke and fumes created by the activity where it may penetrate any adjoining residence(s) on Queen Victoria Street, King Edward Street, College Street,
Marchwood Park Road or Green Lane. No ‘tyre popping’ is to take place at any event.
Advice Note:
The Consent Holder shall discourage as far as possible burnouts by street legal cars and motorcycles. Burnouts by vehicles using racing slick tyres are to be encouraged to be restricted for the minimum duration required to achieve effective tyre warming.
Signage
9 One sign may be erected on site in accordance with the application and of a
maximum height of 2.6 metres and with a sign face of 1.2 metres by 2.5 metres. This sign shall not be on or overhanging the Road Reserve and shall be located a
minimum of 10 metres from the intersection of College Street and Queen Victoria Street.
Dump Station Access
10 All of the public shall still be able to obtain access to the public sewer dump station at Marchwood Park Road during the times that the drag racing events are operating.
Advice Note:
The above condition was developed from submissions received on the application and is to ensure that the public can still use the public wastewater dump station nearby while events are operating.
Public Address Loudspeaker
11 The public address loudspeaker shall only be used between the hours of 10.00 am and 4.00 pm (or 5:00 pm where the exemption in Condition 3 is being used). Except that short announcements on the public address loudspeaker for drivers and support crew briefings may occur from 9.30 am until 4.00 pm.
Complaints Register
12 The Consent Holder shall maintain a “complaints register”, which records in sufficient detail the nature of the complaint, the name of the complainant, the contact telephone number or email of the complainant (only if the complainant wishes to supply this information), the date of the complaint, and any action taken by the Consent Holder to address the complaint. The complaints register shall be kept by the Consent Holder
and provided to the Council's Team Leader Monitoring & Enforcement immediately upon request.
Review
13 Pursuant to Section 128(1)(a) of the Resource Management Act 1991, the Consent Authority may review any conditions of the consent at any time within 2 years from the activity commencing and thereafter within 1 month of the anniversary of the date of this consent to deal with any adverse effect on the environment relating to noise, traffic, air discharge and amenity effects and which may arise from the exercise of the consent and for any of the following purposes:
(a) to deal with any adverse effect on the environment which may arise and which is appropriate to deal with at a later stage; and/or
(b) to require the Consent Holder to adopt the best practical option to remove or reduce any adverse effect on the environment;
(c) in the event that an alternative venue becomes available; and/or
(d) to require consistency with any relevant Regional Plan, District Plan, National Environmental Standard or Act of Parliament.
Duration of Consent
14 This consent expires on 5 November 2030.
ADVICE NOTES Site Management
1 A Memorandum of Understanding is currently in place between the Consent Holder, the Council, and the other Motueka Aerodrome users. While co-operation and effective communication is not something that can be taken into account in this decision, it is considered by the Council to be an important component of running drag racing events on the Aerodrome. The Consent Holder is advised that effective communication, diligent management and consideration for other activities occurring on the aerodrome site is essential.
Council Regulations
2 The Consent Holder shall meet the requirements of Council with regard to all Building and Health Bylaws, Regulations and Acts.
Other Tasman Resource Management Plan Provisions
3 This resource consent only authorises the activity described above. Any matters or activities not referred to in this consent or covered by the conditions must either:
1) comply with all the criteria of a relevant permitted activity rule in the Tasman Resource Management Plan (TRMP); 2) be allowed by the Resource Management Act; or 3) be authorised by a separate resource consent.
Monitoring
4 Monitoring of this resource consent will be undertaken by the Council as provided for by Section 35 of the Act and a one-off fee has already been charged for this
monitoring. Should the monitoring costs exceed this fee, the Council reserves the right to recover these additional costs from the Consent Holder. Costs can be minimised by consistently complying with conditions, thereby reducing the necessity and/or frequency of Council staff visit is.
Interests Registered on Property Title
5 The Consent Holder should note that this resource consent does not override any registered interest on the property title.
REASONS FOR THE DECISION Proposed Activity and Background
The application is to continue to operate a drag racing activity in the Rural 1 Zone under the same conditions as previous consent RM080583. This would authorise consent to allow 4 drag racing days per year at Motueka Airport for a period of 10 years.
A normal race day programme would consist of two practice/qualifying passes, with eliminations to follow working through a ladder (heat) system to an eventual winner. The number of cars can vary from meeting to meeting with the event starting at about 10.00 am and completed at 4.00 pm.
The Nelson Drag Racing Association (NDRA) had consent RM080583 to operate for 10 years. RM080583 was granted on 8 May 2009 and expired on 8 May 2019. Since then the applicants have been operating events under Section 124 of the Resource Management Act 1991 (the Act).
New Temporary Activities Noise Rule
A matter in considering this application is that since the previous consent was obtained, an amendment to include Temporary Activities has been inserted as a permitted activity in the Tasman Resource Management Plan (TRMP) under Rule 17.5.2.1(o). This provides that:
(i) For any one site, the zone noise limits are exceeded for not more than 2 days within any 12 month period and this exceedance occurs only between the hours of 8.00 am and 6.00 pm;
(ii) Any temporary building or structure that is used is removed at the end of the event.
Four days of operation per year is sought by NDRA. The rule change reduces the number of noise level exceeding events from four to two per year. This changes the permitted baseline relating to noise levels such that only 2 days per year will breach the TRMP noise standards.
The Applicant
The NDRA is a local club currently serving about 70 members, who own about 50 cars together with competition motorcycles, and who meet four times per year, on Saturdays and occasionally on Sundays. They carry out competitive racing between members and for cars or bikes from other clubs at one meeting per year known as a national points meeting, when such drivers gain points to be transferred to races at the National Championship meeting each year. This activity attracts more competitive cars and motorcycles to the Motueka Airport.
Tasman Resource Management Plan (“TRMP”) Zoning, Area, and Rules Affected According to the TRMP the following apply to the subject property:
Zoning: Rural 1
Areas: Designation D209 (Aerodrome) Land Disturbance Area 1
The activity authorised by this consent does not comply with Rule 17.5.2.1(c) (noise level) of the TRMP and is assessed as a Discretionary Activity in accordance with Rule 17.5.2.9 of the TRMP.
Principal Issues (Actual and Potential Effects on the Environment)
The principal issues associated with the proposed activity involve the actual and potential effects on the environment. For this application these were:
(a) Effects on rural activities.
(b) Noise effects.
(c) Traffic effects.
(d) Effects on other users of the Motueka Airport.
I consider that the application is able to be granted for the following reasons:
(a) Effects on rural activities
Due to the very low frequency of the events it is considered that effects on surrounding rural activities are less than minor.
(b) Noise effects
Noise effects are considered to be the main factor in this assessment of the proposal as they are the main effect generated by the drag racing activity.
Consideration was given as to whether noise level modelling would assist in the public determining those effects. In this case, as the activity has operated under consent
RM080583 for 10 years, most residents will have already experienced the noise effects of one or more event, without knowing the actual dBA levels at their notional boundaries, and they could judge whether the proposal to continue with four events per annum, as compared with the permitted baseline of two events, is acceptable to them.
It is important to note that since the previous consent was obtained, the permitted noise standards applying to the activity have become less restrictive. Specifically, an amendment including Temporary Activities has been inserted as a permitted activity in the TRMP under Rule 17.5.2.1(o). This provides that:
“(i) For any one site, the zone noise limits are exceeded for not more than 2 days within any 12 month period and this exceedance occurs only between the hours of 8.00 am and 6.00 pm.
(ii) Any temporary building or structure that is used is removed at the end of the event.”
This proposal exceeds the 2 day limitation. Four days’ operation per year is sought by NDRA and becomes a Discretionary Activity because it is extremely unlikely the Lmax of Rule 175.2.1(e) at 70dBA could be met, especially for any event that may be transferred to a Sunday. It is also very doubtful that the equalised noise level of 55dBA could be met for some, if not all, of the racing. To establish this would require an array of noise-measuring equipment at notional boundaries, especially of the dwellings nearest the start and finish lines and to be monitored throughout the day events. The amended rule however, means that the TRMP noise rules only apply for 2 of the 4 operating days per year. This reduces the amount of time that the activity will exceed noise levels to only 2 days per year. This amounts to only 0.58% of the year, which is considered to be very infrequent.
In addition, the intrusion of noise is only generated for a relatively small period of overall vehicle racing event meet time. For example, the application includes an analysis of the time that noise was actually generated during the meeting held on 12 January 2019, which was the Season National Point Race. The application notes that there were 79 entries spread over seven vehicle classes. A normal race day programme would consist of two practice / qualifying passes, with eliminations to follow working through a ladder (heat) system to an eventual winner. The races, practices and qualifying passes lasted about 68 minutes in total on that race day. It is noted that this race time may vary depending on the number of
competitors on any one race day. However, this shows that given the time necessary between races, the noise from the activity will only take place for a fraction of the total event time.
The aerodrome is a noisy environment from aircraft, with no available control over aviation noise. During race days the level of aircraft use is reduced considerably as planes must operate off the grass runway and racing must be suspended for that to happen and as agreed by the Motueka Aviation Users (MAU). This will ensure that the noise effects of aircraft will not be in addition to the noise effects of drag racing.
It is also noted that the environment in which the activity takes place is partly rural and is subject to noise from aeroplanes, farm vehicles and machinery and passing traffic. In this context the noise created by the activity is not considered to be more than minor.
Council’s Team Leader, Environmental Health has reviewed the application and the submissions and considers that it is appropriate to grant the consent subject to the recommended conditions.
Short announcements on the public address loudspeaker for drivers and support crew briefings may occur from 9.30 am until 4.00 pm (30 minutes earlier than the remainder of loudspeaker addresses) as these will be infrequent and short in duration and will have less than minor effects.
The last application (RM080583) was publicly notified and the Commissioner who heard and determined that application concluded that:
a) the noise produced by the drag races is undeniable, but is not considered to be more than minor, given a range of mitigating factors. Firstly, the four events per year is very infrequent, the regularity of a loud unpleasant noise is a significant component in determining its level of adverse effect. Secondly, the evidence is that each burn out and drag race is of a very short duration, usually with a significant break in noise between races and an extended break between sets of races. While a limitation on the level of noise (in decibels) emitted is possible it is not warranted in this case due to the infrequency of the event, and the fallibility of measuring noise under
circumstances where there are many other sources of noise (e.g. aeroplane noise, traffic, cicadas, people talking etc).
b) The fumes and smoke emitted by racing events are an unavoidable consequence of the racing. The NDRA has volunteered to avoid the unnecessary production of smoke and fumes by halting or discouraging practices such as tyre popping and prolonged burnouts. Beyond that, it is considered that the major mitigating factor when
considering the matter of fumes and smoke is the very low frequency of the events.
The Commissioner had regard to the above matters and the statutory provision of the Act in granting consent including:
(a) Tasman Regional Policy Statement (TRPS);
(b) the Tasman Resource Management Plan (TRMP);
(c) Part II matters contained in Section 6, 7 and 8 of the Act as well as the overall purpose of the Act as present in Section 5.
He considered that the activity is not considered contrary with respect to site amenity, mainly due to the frequency and duration of events. Any adverse effects are therefore of only short duration. In terms of Section 7 of the Act the proposal would not compromise the key objectives concerning productivity potential of the rural land resource. By taking an account of relevant consideration in Section 6 and 7 of the Act the Commissioner considered that the proposal does not compromise the sustainability management of natural and physical resources and is therefore consistent with Part 5 of the Act. The same conclusions are reached in this assessment of the same proposal.
(c) Traffic effects
Council’s Development Engineer has reviewed the application. The activity has been operating for 10 years so he is familiar with the proposal. He has not raised any concerns regarding traffic effects. He considers that the surrounding roading network has the capacity to safely and efficiently cater for the events, there are no issues on the greater roading network and the low frequency of events will reduce effects further still. Traffic effects are considered to be less than minor.
(d) Effects on other users of the Motueka Airport
Council’s Airport Manager and Commercial Portfolio Manager, who manage the Motueka Airport, have reviewed the application and have not raised any concerns.
Relevant Statutory Provisions
In considering this application, I had regard to the matters outlined in Section 104 of the Act.
In particular, I had regard to the relevant provisions of the following planning documents:
(a) the Tasman Regional Policy Statement (TRPS);
(b) the Tasman Resource Management Plan (TRMP).
Most of the objectives and policies contained within the TRPS are mirrored in the TRMP.
The activity is considered to be consistent with the relevant objectives and policies contained in Chapters 5 (Site Amenity Effects), 6 (Urban Environment Effects) and 11 (Land Transport Effects) of the TRMP.
In particular, the proposed activity is not considered contrary to the objectives and policies with respect to site amenity in Chapter 5, mainly due to the very low frequency and duration of events. Any adverse effects are therefore of only very short duration.
In relation to Chapter 7, the proposed activity will not compromise the key objectives concerning productive potential of the rural land resource, as the site is already developed for an aerodrome and associated activities. There are considered to be less than minor
effects on rural activities in the area, and the noise created is of a similar character with noise generated from the aerodrome, and is of very limited duration.
There are no matters that are considered to conflict with objectives and policies in Chapter 11, which is concerned with land transport effects. Issues of safety at the
aerodrome are addressed in terms of the Memorandum of Understanding with the Airport Users (MoU). This was thoroughly addressed at the hearing and subsequent decision on the previous consent (RM080583) and no changes are proposed in this regard. The decision recorded that the evidence at the RM080583 hearing by the applicant shows that the NDRA has adequately addressed the safety issues.
Part II Matters
I have taken into account the relevant principles outlined in Sections 6, 7 and 8 of the Act and it is considered that granting this resource consent achieves the purpose of the Act as presented in Section 5.
Notification and Affected Parties
The Council’s Resource Consents Manager, under the authority delegated to him, decided that under the provisions of Section 95 of the Act public notification was required.
The application was publicly notified on 17 August 2019. A total of 106 submissions were received. Of these, 103 submissions were in support, one neutral and two in opposition. Of the 103 submissions in support, 55 of these were wishing to be heard. All submitters in support have subsequently withdrawn their right to be heard.
One submission, from Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ), was neutral and wishing to be heard. FENZ sought a condition that the Consent Holder provides FENZ with written notice of each event at least 2 weeks prior to the event taking place. The applicant subsequently volunteered that condition so FENZ has withdrawn its wish to be heard.
The New Zealand Motor Caravan Association – Nelson-Tasman Area (NZMCA) lodged a submission in opposition wishing to be heard. They sought a condition that the Consent Holder provides the NZMCA with written notice of each event at least 2 weeks prior to each event taking place. NZMCA also sought that all of the public are able to obtain access to the sewage dump station at Marchwood Park Road during the times that the drag racing events are operating. The applicant subsequently volunteered the two conditions so NZMCA has withdrawn its wish to be heard. One individual submitted in opposition, wishing to be heard.
They subsequently withdrew their right to be heard after discussing the proposal further with the applicant. Consequently, no submitters wished to be heard.
The Council’s Resource Consents Manager has, under the authority delegated to him, decided that in accordance with the provisions of Section 100 of the Act a hearing is not required and a decision can be issued under delegated authority.
This consent is granted on 5 November 2020 under delegated authority from the Tasman District Council by:
Paul Gibson
Senior Consent Planner – Land Use
Plan A RM190119 dated 5 November 2020
Plan B RM190119 dated 5 November 2020
