Tuakau Structure Plan
or should this be Tuakau Destruction Plan or POOAKAU potential odour zones?
Report by Tonkin+Taylor for Waikato District Council 2015
Assessment of Air Quality Effects and Separation Distances
UPDATE: RECEIVED THE TUAKAU PROTEINS DISCUSSION FORUM MINUTES FROM THE MEETING HELD ON 3 APRIL 2017.
Under the District Plan Heading resident asked 'if the odours are contained and improving why are 'you guys' (tuakau protein) controlling what we can do with our property? This resident was told by WDC planner concerning the Tuakau Structure Plan, that the restriction on subdivision was because of the two businesses (Envirofert and Tuakau Proteins) who control the whole of the south of Tuakau and they don't want people to move in because of the reverse sensitivity issue.
This report (picture above) was done by Tonkin+Taylor for Waikato District Council, dated August 2015, because a number of industrial and infrastructure activities have the potential to discharge dust and/or odour in the Tuakau area.
If you live within these circles Tuakau Protein and Envirofert Composting are looking at introducing 'reverse sensitivity' or 'buffer zone' within these circles. Strange as Envirofert are NOT in the Tuakau Structure Plan but can still put odour buffer zones on existing properties? surely that is illegal?
Tuakau Proteins rendering plant (under 1 year) previously Graeme Lowe Waikato/Waikato By-Products and Envirofert (1999 clean?fill & 8 years of food waste composting) have requested this. Brinks in Ryders Road has numerous complaints and T+T report states that WRC said they have no complaints. Really! not what the locals say, or is this an area that does not want a potential 'odour zone' put on the plans that could affect property values/potential buyers to their properties??
Tuakau Proteins plant has been a rendering plant for 40+ years under many different names. 40+ years of putrid rendering odours, trucks smelling, trucks dropping loads, discharge water to the Waikato River that could be contaminated, smells of dead animals, fish, and all the smells that go with rendering plants.
Envirofert composting/clean?fill/food destruction/smelly leachate ponds, odours many indescribable, food waste and destruction of food/ fat recovery are like having a open rotten garbage bin on your property any time, any duration.
Tuakau Proteins rendering plant circle is in purple and extends over many properties.
Envirofert composting plant is in the yellow circle and extends over properties and land which may be developed into housing. The circle around Envirofert is incorrect as anywhere within their boundary is a potential odour zone not just from the composting area.
Composting, Fonterras depackaging shed, leachate ponds, irrigation of leachate on to their land,buried whiteboard that when wet gives off hydrogen sulphide (rotten egg smell).
Now they want an extra kilometre, minimum, and encroach onto your land, saying that the community is stopping them from expanding their operations.
What about them encroaching onto our lands and stopping us from expanding??
The councils seem to encourage this! Listening to the facilities and not the community that live around these odour producing facilities. Non-notifiable changes are made regularly!
Tonkin+Taylor did a report for Envirofert, Odour assessment for 74 Geraghtys Road, Tuakau, in 2009 for Envirofert because of a S127 change to a resource consent allowing Envirofert to take food waste for compost.
It stated then....while the existing separation distance at the site is less than the recommended separation distance (800m vs 1,000m), the separation distance guidelines are only designed to be a quick and easy assessment tool for identifying the potential for odours from an individual site and when met, they indicate odour assessment would typically not be required. Therefore, the guideline confirms that the preparation of a site specific odour assessment for the site was appropriate. Yeah right! another report from so-called experts that do not have to live with the putrid odours! Do a report and walk away and the councils just tick the relevant box!
Summary: (of the report)The proposed works involve the addition of a food waste composting facility at the existing composting site. ........provided the procedures listed in the SMP (site management plan) are adequately implemented it is considered that the potential for off-site adverse odour effects is LOW.
LOW! LOW! Not when you are living with putrid rotten food waste odours, even LOW odours get into washing, curtains, furnishings and ruin your quality of life. Envirofert composting has emitted putrid, rotten food waste odours since 2009 over Tuakau and surrounding area and it is definitely not LOW and Tuakau Proteins rendering plant odours also affect the use of properties causing adverse effects.
Now after many years of reports and now a new one from Tonkin+Taylor 2015 (surely this is a conflict of interest when they did the original report for Envirofert in 2009), Envirofert and Tuakau Protein want to encroach their odours even further onto neighbouring properties.
What happened to the off site odour effects would be LOW in 2009, was that a lie!!!
Home and landowners will be restricted by only certain people that would buy the land and houses because of having a 'potential odour zone' on council plans.
Immediately you lose on your property values, limit the potential buyers.
Tuakau could end up with residents not caring about their living conditions that will affect the long term residents.
Homeowners and landowners that have bought many years ago now find the council and these odour producing facilities wanting to extend a 1000 metre buffer zone from their odorous activities and encroach onto private neighbouring properties restricting the owners.
This is not reverse sensitivity but a misdirected resource consent approval by the 'so-called experts'. These facilities should not be there or have outgrown their activities and properties.
The home and landowners are described as 'sensitive' by the 'so-called experts', councils and the odour producing facilities.
Original Resource Consents were issued by the Franklin/Waikato Councils with the condition that 'no objectionable or offensive odour beyond the (facility) boundary', and now the odour producing facilities want to encroach way over their boundaries into neighbouring properties who are going to lose on property values and quality of life.
Written in the New Zealand Journal of Environmental Law is.....'The condition is placed in a covenant or easement and registered on the certificate of title, ensuring successors in title have specific notice of requirement, and are bound by it.'
So when you want to sell your house/land, and the lawyer does a search of the title it will have that your house/land in an odour zone!
If these odour producing facilities owned the complete air quality separation distance, i.e the complete circle in diagram, and then sold on the land for other purposes this would be acceptable. People that purchase the land that falls within the circle then have the knowledge of the 'odour zone' but to put these restrictions on neighbouring properties that have been in this area way before these odour producing facilities is MORALLY WRONG and THEFT of the biggest asset in many people's lives.
This requirement of having a potential 'odour zone' when selling your property is already being applied, and this is before Tuakau Structure Plan submissions have even been seen by 'independent' commissioners.
Surely this sets a precedent that all residents will have this 'odour zone' on the councils plans?? and council has taken the odour producing facilities request and applied it!
Is this legal or honest?
This email was sent to Jenny Simpson from Tonkin+Taylor who did the report for Waikato District Council,Jane McCartney and David Totman planners of Waikato District Council, Nick Smith Ministry of Environment, and Paula Bennett Ministry of Local Government.
Not one of them had the decency to reply.
Time will inevitably uncover dishonesty and lies, history has no place for them!
My definition of an expert in any field is a person who knows enough about what is really going on to be scared. P.J. Plauger.
