Concerning the State Highway 88 realignment, skirting the new stadium.
Judgment-221310 (PDF, 109 KB)
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DScene breaks the news at Stuff:
Dunedin City Council fined for road botch up
A High Court decision has slammed Dunedin City Council’s (DCC) handling of a roading realignment in the city, ordering the cash-strapped authority to pay affected parties more than $185,000 in costs. Justice Alan Mackenzie indicated in a written decision the legality of the stretch of State Highways 1 and 88 through the city remained in question because of the council’s botch up.
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Related Posts:
9.6.12 City Property to compete more obviously in the market
27.5.12 SH88 realignment – information
25.5.12 SH88 realignment costs (injunction)
27.2.12 Bringing DCC councillors, staff, related entities and individuals to account
23.8.11 Stadium project tangles
24.11.10 SH88 realignment for stadium disrupts traffic
29.10.10 DCC Chief Executive resigns – timing is everything!
21.7.10 SH88 realignment – update
7.7.10 Goodbye to great store buildings in Parry St
21.4.10 SH88 realignment – update
31.3.10 SH88 realignment
24.2.10 SH88 realignment: Are ratepayers buying the land twice?
20.11.09 Interesting. SH88 realignment.
2.9.09 SH88 realignment past stadium
27.8.09 $294.8m investment for Otago region
19.5.09 There’s more, really?
12.2.09 DCC, and the right to ask?
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
Comment received.
Anonymous
Submitted on 2012/11/20 at 4:52 pm
The High Court judgment of Dunedin City Council vs Anzide Properties is here: http://jdo.justice.govt.nz/jdo/GetJudgment/?judgmentID=221310
Under section 19 of the judgment: “The Council has proceeded to build the road which affects their properties and their businesses, in reliance upon a decision of the Council which it has accepted was improperly made. The road is, it seems, in place with no proper legal basis.”
The realignment of SH88 as I have asserted from the beginning, was illegal. RIP, Richard. There are massive liability issues for DCC right now. In fact, the road should be stopped up forthwith.
The rest of the judgment is absolutely devastating reading for the DCC. They have obstructed, delayed, misdirected and broken every rule that they could to force this road through. This is the tip of the iceberg. There are so many questions to be answered.
Now that the judgment is out of the way, I can go back through another raft of documents to establish a timeline of the dodgy dealings that occurred during the SH88 transactions.
Let it be said: there should be another Auditor-General inquiry into the SH88 and related transactions.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7975097/Dunedin-City-Council-fined-for-road-botch-up
The above story isn’t in D Scene tomorrow — we were unable to obtain the judgment before deadline — but is up now on Stuff.
The judgment was made last Thursday. How come it hasn’t come out till now?
Peter, it takes a certain number of working days before a court decision is uploaded on to the courts website for all to see.
Nice work, Mike and Wilma. Peter, I saw a copy of the judgment last Thursday but it did not get loaded onto the justice dept website until today. Elizabeth will confirm the communication that took place while under embargo.
Confirmed.
This must force Paul Orders to have Tony Avery (as Senior Manager of Project Developments) on the ‘mat’ on a ‘please explain errand’. He might well be forced to award the DCM (Don’t Come Monday). Any question of a severance settlement must be directly aligned to the nearly $200,000 damages awarded against the DCC, and adjusted accordingly.
This disastrous type of incompetence and arrogance must stop.
What are we left with? An illegal road and the prospect of all manner of damages claims. Oh what a woeful performance by all concerned.
Thanks Mike and Anonymous for that explanation. Very good report by Wilma on Stuff.
Yes, Calvin, heads should roll. None of those spineless no ‘witch hunts’ or ‘relitigating the past’ responses, please. They reflect badly on those who utter them.
I am pleased that the justice system has done its job. In this case.
The total incompetence of those concerned at the time of this mess are to be seen in the context of the whole stadium project. Bullying, intimidation and frankly false, misleading information by this City’s GOBs are at last being seen for what they always were. I pity Paul Orders in many ways in that he is left picking up the mess created and enhanced by Jimbo Harland and his asleep at the wheel and conniving Councillors at the time. Heads must roll and people must be held to ACCOUNT, something that is so far completely unheard of around the Council table.
The Stadium project, the Delta mess, the debt levels, lack of vision all round – what must it take to convince voters in Dunedin that all that deadwood must be stripped clean and sent packing to the nearest fettling house.
I think maybe you have missed something too Russell, in that last line.
WHAT DOES IT TAKE to convince the law system in New Zealand that the people are getting taken badly by someone in public office. The same people they are meant to look after….
Hi Russell, according to New Our Stadium Mayor Dave Cull there will be no accountability. No surprises with this Mayor, not that it’s really his call. I guess he’s just kneeling down again for rugby. Has any Mayor ever been so soft and squishy in Dunedin’s history?
There are several understatements of the decade in this story.
DCC to pay $185k costs over botched realignment
By Hamish McNeilly on Wed, 21 Nov 2012
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/235772/dcc-pay-185k-costs-over-botched-realignment
The Mayor knows there is an election next year. “Don’t rock the boat” is the mantra. Unfortunately, he has not yet realised that come next year, there will be no boat.
There are people out there with HUNDREDS of pages of information on SH88, Jacks Point, Luggate etc. In an age of public records and the Internet, it isn’t possible to have a cover-up any longer. Accountability is key. There’s nothing wrong with admitting mistakes and making people accountable. In fact it is expected of a strong leader. Mayor Cull should learn that lesson, before he returns to being simply “Dave Cull”.
The starting point is: “the road has no legal basis”. The questions are:
– what are you going to instruct the Chief Executive do about that?
– how quickly?
– what disciplinary action are you going to direct the Chief Executive to take against staff who deliberately set out to ruin the livelihood of a local landowner?
Rather than wait until the 2013 local body elections Dave Cull should resign as Mayor now. Because we’re not going away.
Move on, no witch-hunts
>> no consequences
>> no reason to improve one’s performance AND no
replacement of the woefully incompetent
>> same-old overspends, cockups and rorts.
Does Cull hope to win again – to preside over 3 more years of SNAFUs? What a wally.
[situation normal, all fff’d up]
This is f*cking hilarious.
Paul Orders is in Shanghai.
Who is Acting Chief Executive while he is away?
Tony F*cking Avery.
What f*cked up city is this?
The irony is severe.
That unfortunate comment by Cull at ODT:
Asked if heads would roll over the council’s handling of the saga, Mr Cull replied “No”.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/235772/dcc-pay-185k-costs-over-botched-realignment
The road cock up extends all the way around to the stadium roundabout. People walking, jogging and hitchhiking along the side of the road get forced onto the carriageway itself where the grassy areas abruptly end. Is this stupid and dangerous design caused by that same desire to get anything at all built in time for the RWC?
Very possibly Chris, there were pathways and underpasses planned for pedestrians and cyclists but hey….. consulted on, even.
Was that part of SH88 constructed illegally as well? I look forward to finding out what the design process actually was and who were the clowns responsible.
Chris, the problems start more or less at the corner of Frederick St on Anzac Ave (beside the on-ramp to the overbridge) and continue up to the intersection with Ravensbourne Rd – that was the section of roading realigned as part of the beleagured Notice of Requirement (NoR) for the stadium that the court case centres on. Another Notice of Requirement which ended in hot water for the council centred on realigning the stretch of road and associated land that includes 41 Wharf St and the on/off ramp to Jetty Street Overbridge – both NoRs are for the ‘harbourside arterial’. The DCC website carries all the information on the Notices of Requirement, associated maps and decisions. We also cover some of it here but it’s always better to go back to the official information as it exists… although heaven knows what that information actually means now – given the judge has ruled we have an illegal road and no resolution to that despite award of costs. I’m sure NZTA are examining their navels after the judgment, given NZTA’s Regional Director (Southern region) is ‘not very disconnected’ from the purpose and intent of the SH88 realignment exercise. Dear Mr Harland, Jimothy to his friends.
Showing determination not to examine how bad decisions were made, therefore not taking the opportunity to find out whether there are some people who can’t be trusted to make decisions on anything more weighty than whether to buy blue or black pens for the office, and rejecting the possibility of procedures being put in place to double-check for stupidity before anyone signs anything, Cull said, “”A few things slipped, it’s fair to say. At the time, council did not make the best decisions, but they probably made it in good faith, so that is the way it is.”
Move on.
Move on, Dave. And take your monkeys with you, you know the ones, Hear-no-truth, See-no-facts, Speak-no-truth.
Don’t stop yet.
Don’t stop till you’re outside NZ’s economic zone.
Terrific, Hype !!! Get rid of that sucker.
He’s as cunning as a shit-house rat. It’s like been in the lead car with a one year head start and still ducking off the track to pop up near the finish line and point that last arrow in a different direction for those trying to catch up. I’m not sure how successful this little ploy will be though as the excrement is fair over flowing in the wee house.
farsighted says on the ODT forum: “The road has no legal basis. If there is an accident there tomorrow, who has liability?” That is an important question, something that affects all road users beyond understanding the corrupt behaviour that led to this situation. It is a significant news tip and one I would like to see questioned in its paper.
It’s our understanding the DCC has spent a lot more than $485,000 in the legal process.
It’s right that Doug Hall keeps his own council.
Tony Avery is flapping about, he should be very worried.
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### ODT Online Tue, 27 Nov 2012
‘Robust resolution’ sought over SH88
By Debbie Porteous
The process to designate land for the new State Highway 88 realignment around Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium is on hold while the city council focuses on finding “a robust resolution” to longstanding issues resulting from the bungled handling of the original process.
The council has spent 18 months and $485,000 trying to find a resolution to the issues, which revolve around the safety of the configuration of the new road. The council originally designated some of Dunedin businessman Doug Hall’s property for the new road, before realigning the road around his property in 2010 without notifying him.
Read more
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/236656/robust-resolution-sought-over-sh88
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Comments at ODT Online:
Quite simple
Submitted by farsighted on Tue, 27/11/2012 – 7:30am.
Either:
1. Buy the land.
2. Go through the redesignation process. Then have to buy the land.
There is no way out of this for Dunedin City Council other than the status quo being maintained or them having to buy the land.
The issue for the Dunedin City Council is that they have set high land prices through their original purchases of adjacent land in the SH88 transactions. This means they have to acquire Hall’s land at the same prices.
Either of the options above incurs an expense to the Council of tens of millions. No wonder they want to delay the process.
The staff responsible for the original process should have no part in the continuing process. There should be a full investigation of the SH88 transactions.
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A price has been set.
Submitted by russandbev on Tue, 27/11/2012 – 12:40pm.
The fact is that when all the land was being purchased for the stadium, the land owners or lease holders received on average 3 times the going rate for the land. Readers may well recall one of those owners, John Farry’s now famous quote about his windfall as being nothing other than “a piss in the bucket”.
Those actions set a price for the land which Mr Hall should reasonably expect to be maintained in his case. But maybe Mr Hall is not part of the same group of very fortunate sellers and as such received less attention.
What is way worse is that we know that despite the mammoth bungling by the DCC in this whole sorry mess, no accountability for actions taken will be looked into by the DCC. The lesson to be learned obviously is that you can muck up to your heart’s content, but you will not be held responsible. I hope Mr Hall teaches City Hall a big lesson.
[Abridged]
DCC is up to $1.2 million so far. Plus their own legal costs. Plus whatever Tony Avery gets paid, which shouldn’t be for much longer. The final price tag will be at least $10 million.
Where does a bankrupt Council get $10 million from?
Cull knitting peggy squares won’t solve it!
More at ODT Online:
Absolutely – ridiculous is the word
Submitted by farsighted on Tue, 27/11/2012 – 1:35pm.
I withdrew this comment at ODT Online today:
Players
new
Submitted by ej kerr on Tue, 27/11/2012 – 1:49pm.
It’s interesting that persons responsible for land purchases by Delta at Jacks Point and Luggate feature prominently in the saga of land purchases for the new stadium, including the realignment of State Highway 88.
I agree with farsighted: “There should be a full investigation of the SH88 transactions.”
*******************************************
The email conversation went like this:
—– Original Message —–
From: Sean Flaherty
To: Elizabeth Kerr
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 2:25 PM
Subject: comment
Hi
Could you please clarify who you are referring to in your comment – and
be mindful of the fact that in the comments forum we raraely [sic] introduce
material which is not already part of the public record or which
requires verification or the right of reply. –
It’s interesting that persons responsible for land purchases by Delta at
Jacks Point and Luggate feature prominently in the saga of land
purchases for the new stadium, including the realignment of State
Highway 88. I agree with farsighted: “There should be a full
investigation of the SH88 transactions.”
Regards
—
Sean Flaherty
Online Editor
*******************************************
—– Original Message —–
From: Elizabeth Kerr
To: Sean Flaherty
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 2:29 PM
Subject: Re: comment
Hi Sean
Thanks for checking with me.
I’ll withdraw the comment for now – LGOIMA requests have netted the information.
Cheers, Elizabeth
*******************************************
Possible Cue: ODT makes LGOIMA information requests on land purchases.
[how close to the fire]
Old news… via post
29.5.10 Stadium site purchases
Both news articles are interesting in light of all that’s happened since. Plus, Athol was allowed to speak back then!
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{And Larry, our online archives are extensive – for a reason. These are searchable but only become fully searchable at the Dashboard. -Eds}
They’re not peggy squares, they’re a security blanket. Sometimes in the hurly-burly of councilanthropogenic chaos a chap needs one, OK?
http://rates.orc.govt.nz/detail.php?u=1318289235&property_id=73925&context=pub
vs
http://www.interest.co.nz/bonds/61470/how-and-why-dunedin-city-council-has-investment-property-portfolio-properties-outside-du
Same property (14 Parry St) is on DCC books at $350K
Regarding the valuations being short of time. If the DCC had bought the properties only a few months earlier, before Earl Hagaman did, they would have saved the ratepayers several hundred thousand dollars.
Have to wonder who tipped off Mr Hagaman to the circus (ka-ching).
His deputy McLauchlan I suppose, who else.
Mind you, he might have heard it several ways, Mr Mike Ruboc Holdings Ltd Coburn was working alongside the CST board of trustees: Malcolm Farry, Kereyn Smith, Ron Anderson, Bill Baylis, Stewart Barnett, Eion Edgar, John Ward.
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Conflict of interest claim denied
Wed, 21 Sep 2011
Carisbrook Stadium Trust chairman Malcolm Farry said yesterday Mr Coburn was a member of the stadium’s project delivery team. He was paid for his work, probably worked more than 40 hours a week, and his accounts were paid to Ruboc. Ms Butler sent the Otago Daily Times 23 invoices she had received under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act, which showed Ruboc Holdings earned more than $83,000 between 2009 and 2011.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/178714/conflict-interest-claim-denied
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Dunedin’s ‘plastic box’ stadium under review…
October 2008
Project delivery team:
Mike Coburn: Property developer
Linda Reiper: Westpac Stadium commercial manager
Brian Dackers: Rider Levett Bucknall managing director
John Patrick: University of Otago chief operating officer
Darren Burden: Carisbrook Stadium Trust development director
http://www.evmi.org/news/390
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Dunedin City Council’s Delta rescues Hanover at Jacks Point
Thursday July 09, 2009
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/dunedin-city-councils-delta-rescues-hanover-jacks-point-105123
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Anonymous
Submitted on 2012/11/08 at 11:48 am
Coburn owned Ruboc Holdings which was a principal investment vehicle for Singaporean money for the original Jacks Point development. viz http://notice.singtao.com/ADMA/00251/epdf/E_SeaHolding(fp)x.pdf
[ends]
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[full circle] Ruboc Holdings Ltd is common to the issue with Delta land purchases at Jacks Point and Luggate; and property purchases for the stadium and SH88.
{As Russell Garbutt points out, Ruboc is Cobur (minus the ‘n’) spelled backwards. -Eds}
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Anonymous
Submitted on 2012/11/22 at 12:26 pm
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/delta-undermines-dunedins-credit-rating-ch-132685
“For example, at the time of the purchases Mike Coburn was a director of Dunedin City Holdings, Delta Utilities (where he still is on the board), Luggate Village Holdings and various other property companies related to Jack’s Point developer and friend John Darby.”
Ruboc Holdings – Mike Coburn – Stuart McLauchlan -> indictments
Stuart McLauchlan – Earl Hagaman -> SH88 transactions -> indictments
[ends]
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In case there’s any doubt that problems still exist…
New directors appointed in DCHL restructuring
Sat, 27 Oct 2012
Dr Parton and Mr Frow would work alongside incumbent directors Ray Polson and Stuart McLauchlan on the Delta and Aurora Energy boards, meaning fellow directors Ross Liddell, Mike Coburn and Norman Evans would retire from the boards. Messrs Gallaher and Allison would work alongside Ross Liddell and Mike Coburn on the City Forests board, replacing outgoing directors Norman Evans and Stuart McLauchlan.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/232209/new-directors-appointed-dchl-restructuring
Ok. I’m in a kind of shock. I know that we have the seven crony councillors on council devoted to doing stakeholders’ bidding. But am I correct in interpreting this as saying that Hagaman bought this land a few months before the stadium spin started publicly, and then sold it for much more than he bought it to council? Just as Farry’s cousin did? Ratesbludgers extraordinaire? For some this town is a nice little earner; if you have the right connections on council. The stadium councillors must be removed from council: Noone, Hudson Brown and co will hand over our assets (think water) to stakeholders.
Looks like we do not live in a democracy here in Dunedin, so that means resources will go to those in the special stakeholder group and tough and too bad for the rest of us; rates rises, service cuts for us and Dunedin’s fiscal future? Destroyed, to pay for the greed of a few (20?).
Correct. Hagaman made a profit of approximately $100K per month between purchase and onsell to DCC. The dates of the property transactions and amounts are documented.
And Hagaman had access to information about the likely sudden increase in price of the land through ‘business’ contacts who eventually ended up on the CST (Coburn, McLauchlan). Seems it is not an overstatement to call the stadium debable a con. And we have councillors that are either part of the con or are standing determinedly blindly by telling us all to smile and suck up the massive debt created by their fellow councillors, just smile and pay the money, continue to let the foxes run the henhouse. What a city, huh? Who needs to watch ‘Sopranos’ with the DCC show of The Corrupt and Gormless and How to sell City to to a bunch of bludging ‘businessmen’!
Mr John Piss-in-the-Bucket Farry who made some millions (thanks to ‘fellow businessmen’) through sale of land to DCC for the stadium, gets into deep shtuk.
Mr Farry was unavailable for comment.
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### ODT Online Thu, 29 Nov 2012
Investment fund being wound up
By Simon Hartley
More than 1400 mainly Southern investors face substantial losses after a decision to wind up a $41.4 million Dunedin-based investment fund. Fund Managers Otago Ltd operates the NZMIT PIE fund, worth $41.4 million. Its $1 units were yesterday valued at 74.5c in the dollar. The NZMIT PIE fund has been under pressure all year and had suspended capital repayments three times since February, with the exception of one tranche of repayments in May, allocating 50% payment of the request. As of November 12, and with the assent of its trustees, Trustee Executors Ltd, Otago Fund Managers cancelled capital redemption requests by any of the 1429 investors as they moved to wind up the fund, which could take “some years”, managers said. In a letter to investors, obtained by the Otago Daily Times, chairman John Farry and managing director Peter Hutchison, outlined how the past six years in the property sector had been “challenging in the extreme” and the decision had been made to wind up the $41.4 million fund.
On Fund Managers Otago Ltd’s website, there are three investment funds: The NZMIT No 2 Fund, worth $12.3 million, offering 7% and open for investments; the CMIT PIE Fund, worth $16.5 million, offering 4% and closed to new investments; and the NZMIT PIE fund, worth $41.4 million (unaudited at September), with capital payments cancelled; also closed to new investments.
Read more
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Earlier news…
● [5.9.12 – FMO] http://www.odt.co.nz/news/business/224519/fund-manager-offers-reassurance
● [2012 – NZMIT] http://www.odt.co.nz/news/business/209247/nzmit-investors-get-capital-back-lots
● [2008 – St Kilda Finance] http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/31730/st-kilda-finance-calls-receivers
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CONNECTIONS
Peter James Hutchison is on boards of the council-owned companies Dunedin Venues Ltd (2512390) and Dunedin Venues Management Ltd (2298338).
[profile] http://www.dunedinvenues.co.nz/about-us/dunedin-venues-board-members
[directorships] http://www.business.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/individual/search?q=HUTCHISON%20Peter&roleType=DIR
[directorships] http://www.business.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/individual/search?q=HUTCHISON%20Peter%20James&roleType=DIR
[famous last words] http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10844064
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John Edward Farry
[directorships] http://www.business.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/individual/search?q=FARRY%20John&roleType=DIR
[directorships] http://www.business.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/individual/search?q=FARRY%20John%20Edward&roleType=DIR
[directorships] http://www.business.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/individual/search?q=FARRY%20John%20Edward&roleType=DIR
[profile at Webb Farry Lawyers] http://www.webbfarry.co.nz/html/dunedin.htm
John established the Otago Development Corporation in the 1980s
Otago Development Corporation Ltd (10 Nov 1986), Scenic Circle Corporation Ltd (13 Feb 1996) are the previous names for Scenic Circle Hotels Ltd (150894)
[Directors include Earl Hagaman, Stuart McLauchlan] http://www.business.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/150894/directors
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Hon Sir John Hansen (chairman, DVL and DVML Boards)
http://www.buildingdisputestribunal.co.nz/About+Us/PANELS/Hon+Sir+John+Hansen.html
1967-69 Solicitor/Barrister, John E. Farry, Barristers Solicitor, Dunedin, New Zealand
1969-79 Partner, John E. Farry & Hansen, Barristers & Solicitors, Dunedin, New Zealand.
John Farry and Peter Hutchison at the heart of your losses, people – or blame it on the weather ?
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/business/236992/investment-fund-being-wound
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Comment at ODT Online…
Fairly straightforward
Submitted by farsighted on Fri, 30/11/2012 – 11:28am.
In the previous story, the loss was due to the global financial crisis.
In this story, the loss was due to illegal building alterations etc.
Try to keep up.
And as usual Smith’s ODT has no interest in white collar corruption; especially if it involves local boys. Unless it is a beneficiary or the mongrel mob doing it, then we hear all about it. It is very interesting observing how the ODT is starting to push the hotel too, incidentally, similar to the stadium.
Am I missing something here. But I, and many others understood clearly that $29 million of Private Funding was contracted to pay down the servicing costs of the Stadium debt over 10 years from the sale of seats, suites and naming rights (via rental income of $4m pa from DVML). These funds were to come from contracted purchasers of the above facilities. I now see on page 5 of the ODT an advertisement touting for sale, premium seats in the exclusive lounges of the Forsyth Barr Stadium. These memberships includes the Highlanders Super Rugby Season, Otago’s ITM Cup and upcoming All Blacks Test Matches. What???? So what this means is that the $29m is not assured by any means, so the whole story is a fraud perpetuated by the DCC to hide the fact that there is no guarantee at all that the ratepayers are not in fact the “fall guys”. The deceit just goes on.
### DScene 28 Nov 2012
DCC in talks after High Court slapping (page 3)
By Wilma McCorkindale
Legality of a strip of State Highway 88 and a set of traffic signals hangs in the balance, pending post–High Court talks between the city council and companies owned by Doug Hall. Dunedin City Council (DCC) general manager operations Tony Avery said a set of traffic lights at the Anzac Ave end of SH88 in Dunedin will stay switched off as discussions follow a costly High Court reprimand for the DCC’s handling of the highway’s realignment. “We’re having discussion with Mr Hall and that’s all we’re going to say at the moment. The decision is out there. We’re just trying to resolve things.”
The debt-ridden authority has to stump up more than $185,000 in costs for affecting access to sites occupied by contractor Doug Hall’s companies, Anzide Properties, Hall Brothers Transport, and Dunedin Crane Hire (2005), according to a High Court ruling by Justice Alan Mackenzie. The amount comprised $79,524 in costs, plus experts fees of $95,605.26, and other disbursements of $10,489.77. Hall is declining to comment.
Justice Mackenzie indicated in a written decision the legality of the stretch of highway remained in question because of the council’s botch up. He berated the DCC for its handling of the matter, saying it had caused further costly delays. The court’s decision is the latest milestone in a two-year battle between the parties relating to the DCC’s designation of land during the consent process for realignment of the highway around the city’s new Forsyth Barr Stadium.
Hall’s companies were identified as affected parties but the council decided to alter the designation without notifying them of the planned change, Justice Mackenzie ruled. The road was built, a new set of traffic lights installed, and it opened April 5, 2011. Court proceedings resulted and the council’s original decision was set aside and a temporary access arrangement made. Justice Mackenzie indicated he was not in a position to make a decision on the future of the road. It’s legal designation is now uncertain.
#bookmark
### ODT Online Thu, 11 Apr 2013
Safety concerns surround underpass
By Chris Morris
Dunedin City Council staff are investigating possible solutions after near misses and collisions between cyclists and pedestrians using a narrow underpass near Forsyth Barr Stadium. The issue was raised at this week’s council meeting by Cr Paul Hudson, who said he was aware of at least one accident in the area and other near-misses. It was earlier raised at the last meeting of the Chalmers Community Board, when board member Mel Aitken – also a Dunedin police senior sergeant – said she had received a complaint about pedestrians being hit.
Read more
Further to the title of this post, Dunedin City Council vs Anzide Properties decision: The road “has no legal basis”…
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### ODT Online Mon, 22 Apr 2013
Council manager’s work recognised
By Chris Morris
Every day for 15 months, Graeme Hamilton’s life revolved around a 1.2km strip of muddy, industrial land in Dunedin. His job was oversee the land’s transformation into a stretch of State Highway 88, capable of carrying 10,000 vehicles a day past the frame of Forsyth Barr Stadium taking shape next door. And to do it in time for the Rugby World Cup, when thousands of people were to descend on the city, its new stadium, and Mr Hamilton’s new road. Mr Hamilton, the Dunedin City Council’s transportation operations manager, headed a control team of council staff, consultants and the New Zealand Transport Agency. The group was tasked with considering how to design and build the road, but also how it and the vehicles it carried would slot into its surroundings. It was a $24.7 million task that kept Mr Hamilton busy as those involved overcame more hurdles than just the Water of Leith that ran through the path of the new road.
Read more
“The DCC” isn’t good enough. This is an umbrella that covers up accountability and means we will continue to have inept decisions made costing millions in ratefunds. Which councillors approved this? Who on staff? ” The DCC” label avoids responsibility, and the city cannot afford to carry people who make mistakes of this magnitude.
What a cosy ring-a-rosy band of brotherhood no need for any other hood “prey and walk away” when they don’t have a bucket they piss in each others’ pockets, such an honourable, even Honourable, association of like-minded, unpatched, gentlemen.
Comment moved to relevant thread.
Funny the way these interest rate swaps have recently had quite a lot of commentary, none of it indicating they are beneficial to the people who get persuaded to involve themselves in them. But as usual the DCC is different, it’s like stadiums all over the world lose money but in Dunedin it was a well-known fact that ours would be worth every cent and would bring more people to Dunedin, not just for the numerous wonderful events held in it but attracted to live here because of it.
Yes, “prudent practice” in Dunedin is in a class of its own.
14 Parry St. Watch this space.
Interesting…
Anonymous, I take it 14 Parry is owned by DCC (part of 20 Parry) – don’t tell me it’s up for hotel development toooooo. Or something.
I don’t understand the difference in valuation – 14 Parry St – in the two sources below.
http://www.interest.co.nz/bonds/61470/how-and-why-dunedin-city-council-has-investment-property-portfolio-properties-outside-du
Dunedin City Council’s investment property portfolio as of June 30
(Posted in Bonds October 9, 2012 – 04:35pm, Gareth Vaughan)
PROPERTY ADDRESS VALUE
Investment Buildings + Land
135 Dukes Rd 825,000
130 Great King St 11,800,000
9 Heriot Drive – Wellington 11,100,000
46 Timaru St 1,920,000
5 Midland St 1,250,000
414 Moray Place 6,800,000
55 Ward St 640,000
61 Ward St 170,000
37 – 39 Treffers Rd – Christchurch 1,800,000
41 Treffers Rd (45a) – Christchurch 1,370,000
33 -35 Treffers Rd – Christchurch 1,700,000
211 George St 32,500,000
54 Moray Place 7,660,000
610 Rosebank Rd – Auckland 5,300,000
14 Parry St 350,000
20 Parry St 1,600,000
56 Parry St 1,530,000
656/658 Princes St 2,800,000
101Milners Rd 530,000
TOTAL $ 91,645,000
Lessors Interest
301 Moray Place 2,060,000
TOTAL 2,060,000
GRAND TOTAL $ 95,765,000
Investment portfolio debt 16,000,000
—————————————————————-
http://rates.orc.govt.nz/detail.php?u=1318289235&property_id=73925&context=pub
Rating Details for 14 Parry St
Valuation Reference 27190/02100
Property ID 73925
Property Address 14 Parry St
Rating Authority Dunedin City
Legal Description SECTIONS 35/40 DP 6068 BLK 76 TOWN OF DUNEDIN
Land Area 0.5749 ha
Land Value 950,000
Improvements Value 275,000
Certificate of Title OT 321 202
Capital Value 1,225,000
Annual Rates $0.00
Hype gets it right. There’s a huge discrepancy in the valuations.
What was the purchase price for 14 Parry St?
When was it purchased?
What budget was used for the purchase within DCC?
Why was the amount of purchase significantly more than the valuation?
Why is the value on the DCC portfolio significantly less than both the purchase price and the valuation?
Could it be that property purchases and valuations affect the value of adjacent land?
How to do Doug Hall out of his just desserts….
Like that will work
I was heading off to make my submission protesting the latest silly project, the hotel, when I was rung by a DCC staffer to say the applicant was being given more time, ie the rest of the day to add more to its submission. I was to present at 2pm and was phoned at 1pm to cancel.
Like most submitters fobbed off I had gone to some trouble and expense to organise being there at a specific time. It may be a tactic to disrupt submitters ability to meet the alternative time given the time of year.
Clearly this fits the sycophantic “how high do we jump” attitude we’ve come to expect from an arrogant council that bends over for big business. Individual ratepayers submitting are secondary to an anonymous Chinese investor and his highly paid henchmen. The Chin/Harland Dynasty lives on by another name.
The three councillors who are hearing this application come from Brighton, Middlemarch and Waikouaiti. Have they been chosen because they won’t have to see the sight of this proposed ugly monstrosity of a hotel every day of every week like those in the hill city suburbs of Dunedin will have to or have they been chosen because the mayor of Dunedin thinks they are the most stupid?
It is perhaps pertinent to note just what a poor quality model of the hotel this is. it matches the poor quality video. If $100,000,000 was really at stake one might expect something better, and better architectural models can be sourced locally within this town – not to mention better videos.
Not a shred of hard evidence has been provided to date to support the assertions made that either these overseas investors or their $100,000,000 of cash actually exist.
Events to date suggest a lack of real cash, but a plenitude of real confidence that this thing will be waved through without too much real effort on the part to of its visible and local proponents.
After reading today’s glorification (the ODT knows most of its subscribers only read to paragraph 3-4) I can only assume they’re sticking to the big square box because it is a copy of what has been done elsewhere so easier to pay for the template and dump one.
I wouldn’t called its design “excellent” – more like a carbon copy.
It probably won’t matter to the visitors safely tucked away on the inside looking at the wildlife down below.
(Are we allowed to stay in any part of it? Use the pool? Rooftop restaurant? Or just the likes of Eion Edgar and Julian Smith? So many questions unanswered.)
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/237830/city-hotel-proposal-hard-improve
‘Local architect’ Francis Whitaker was boorish yesterday in giving lengthy and unnecessary ‘evidence’ for the Applicant, Betterways Advisory Ltd. He relied on a lot of hearsay, becoming more and more fantastical, and causing the entire submitter schedule to be thrown into disarray.
Reminder: the Hearings Panel is to consider “Evidence”. Not opinion.
There is intelligent expert evidence going to hearing or about to. Received some briefs yesterday by email – the city is fighting back, like we knew it would.
Excellent observation Carol. Good point. I think the first one is on the money; those three councillors want to woo voters next year and so it does seem more than coincidental the three councillors who won’t have re election at all threatened were chosen. Since Cull has proven himself a lackey for fiscally challenged so called ‘businessmen’, I think this is no coincidence
The people pushing this hotel have every reason to expect that the Cull and co will come through for them; just as the stadium was pushed through against opposition by the seven stadium councillors still sitting around that council table. Clearly Cull and his weak Greater Dunedin cabal pose no threat to the stakeholders and they can expect to be able to hold their hands out for ratefunds just like the stadium proponents are now; gormless Greater Dunedin and the corrupt Stadium Band of Seven Muppets will ask ‘how much?’
It’s a dumbass design for a cycleway, full stop. Should have been a proper cycle lane over the bridge meeting up with the path at the marina. But we all know why that didn’t happen.
Stories from The Star (despite having been covered by ODT) are being used to ‘refresh’ ODT Online on Sundays.
—
### ODT Online Sun, 14 Apr 2013
Near misses at blind corner
By Tim Miller – The Star
There is concern that someone using the Harbourside walk and cycleway could be seriously injured because of a blind corner. The concerns are about a corner on the underpass near the Leith where the angle of the corner makes it difficult to see what is coming.
At the Chalmers Community Board monthly meeting, board member Mel Aitken told the board she had received complaints about the safety of the underpass and she had also experienced it herself.
Read more
On another topic, we see the skanky Mike Coburn mentioned in despatches from QLDC as it deals to disestablishment of its CCOs.
Top job surprise
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/queenstown-lakes/252987/top-job-surprise
“Meanwhile, the Lakes Environmental board of directors, comprising chairwoman Anne Urlwin, directors Nick Brown, Jeffrey Brown and Mike Coburn resigned yesterday.”
### ODT Online Fri, 19 Apr 2013
Mirror to be installed on cycleway corner
By Vaughan Elder
The Dunedin City Council has responded to concerns over the safety of a blind corner on the harbourside walk and cycleway by promising to install a mirror to increase visibility.
Read more
—
Comment at ODT Online:
Very fast installation
Submitted by farsighted on Fri, 19/04/2013 – 7:20am.
It was installed on Wednesday.
State Highway 88 diversion, ‘on time on budget!’ Tell that to Doug Hall.
I don’t think all the budget items for that project are in yet…
### ODT Online Tue, 4 Jun 2013
Talks on road row abandoned
By Debbie Porteous
Attempts to reach a resolution that would have avoided the Dunedin City Council paying for further potentially lengthy – and costly – legal work around the realignment of State Highway 88 have been abandoned.
The council has tried for two years to reach an agreement with businessman Doug Hall that would make the section of the road realigned around his property legal, allowing the council to turn on traffic lights at the intersection of Anzac Rd and Frederick Sts.
It indicated late last year it would be notifying a new designation process, but put it off while chief executive Paul Orders and Mr Hall tried to reach a resolution.
Mr Orders late last week said despite ”best endeavours” from both sides, it had been agreed a negotiated solution was not possible.
Read more
### ODT Online Mon, 24 Jun 2013
Frustrating few years in dispute
By Debbie Porteous
The man in the middle of a row with the Dunedin City Council over land for a new road believes he was strung along by the council so it could get the road built without him getting in its way. Debbie Porteous talks to Doug Hall about what is happening on his corner. Doug Hall says he is sick of looking like the bad guy over what is happening at Anzac Ave.
Read more