OceanaGold | Waihi North Project | Recreation and tourism assessment 32 There is no reference to the Domain in the Hauraki District Council’s Hauraki District Sport and Active Recreation Plan 2018-2028. The walk to the summit of Black Hill and around the Domain – particularly the section beside the Ohinemuri River – is promoted as a visitor activity, with the summit offering, for example, “extensive views of Waihi, and the Waihi basin.”20 Union Hill to the west of the proposed GOP is owned on its western face by OGNZL and administered by Land Information NZ (LINZ) on the east. Public access to the Waihi Battery gold mining heritage facilities on the western side of the Hill is confined to OGNZL land and there are no formed public tracks on the LINZ block (see Figure 18). Heritage assets on Union Hill are protected according to the Hauraki District Plan and Heritage NZ classifications, and form attractions on the Union Hill Heritage Trail accessed off SH25 to the west and Clarke Street to the south. 4.2 Effects of GOP, NRS and TSF3 There are no effects on recreation or tourism as a result of the development and operation of the TSF3 due to there being no public recreation opportunities in the development area. The GOP will displace mountain biking from Winner Hill and affect access to the Black Hill Motor Cross Track. The NRS will affect a small section of the Full and Half Nugget annual multisport events. These opportunities rely on access over OGNZL land, and there are no agreements in place to secure tenure. Such recreation opportunities must be considered as inevitably temporary based on their current access routes and lack of tenure. It is understood that the Black Hill Motor Cross Track has no resource consent to operate on Ngāti Koi Domain. Defining an adverse effect, in this context, due to the loss of public recreation opportunities on private land – where there is no security of tenure21 – would limit any private landowner’s willingness to offer such opportunities and set a dangerous national precedent. That is, an agency would not offer temporary recreation access to private land if that offer could result in an unavoidable long-term commitment, and the need to implement mitigations if public access was eventually closed. Effects of the GOP on mountain biking, motor cross and The Nugget are therefore considered minor and to not require mitigation. This recognises, for example, if OGNZL had agreed to a time-bound lease for recreation access to their land and the lease expired, there would be no requirement to mitigate the end of the lease, although it might be considered an adverse outcome by the previous leaseholder. In this case, there are no leases or other access agreements and no expectation that public access could remain in perpetuity. OGNZL is, nonetheless, in conversation with the relevant clubs and the Hauraki District Council to support alternative development opportunities, including the potential for a new access route across OGNZL land to the Ngāti Koi Domain for motor cross. However, these will depend on access developments within the Domain which are beyond the control of OGNZL. Visitors to Ngāti Koi Domain – including walkers, runners and cyclists on the summit climb or the circuit track – will be able to see and hear the works at the GOP. The related effects have been assessed by the relevant specialists: Noise: Marshall Day Acoustics (2022) considers noise impacts on users of the recreation areas in close proximity to Gladstone, particularly Ngati Koi Domain and the areas of Union Hill with public access. Noise levels would be 50-55 dB LAeq from typical Gladstone operations, with some small areas of the existing motocross track at the Domain exposed to noise levels of 60 dB LAeq at times. The predicted noise levels presented above would ensure a similar level of amenity protection as provided for by some District Plans that contain noise limits of 55 dB for residential activity. Marshall Day Acoustics concludes that, based on the urban location of local walking tracks, noise levels are unlikely to cause annoyance; and 20 https://www.waihi.org.nz/about/our-outdoors/ 21 Such as where access has not been agreed as a mitigation for the effects of other consented activities.
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