Paraparaumu Airport to be extended

[Dave Homewood]

From the Herald here
www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10384347

Long term $750m plan to develop Paraparaumu airport

1.00pm Wednesday May 31, 2006


The new owners of Paraparaumu Airport, on the Kapiti Coast north of Wellington, have long term plans for hundreds of millions of dollars to be spent developing the facility providing thousands of jobs.

Paraparaumu Airport Holdings' major shareholder Noel Robinson told The Dominion Post that he and two other investors, accountant Steve Bootten and property investment manager Tom Hoare, had bought the airport for "well under $40 million".

The new owners wanted to enhance the 131ha site's potential as a source of business growth and employment, and as a community amenity, Mr Robinson said.

"We want to create about 8000 new jobs, so half the local population will not have to travel out of the district to work, as it does now."

Fifteen consultants were working on the project, and it was planned that $750 million would be spent in a 30-year redevelopment.

Plans included walkways, open spaces, canals (up to 2km long and 20m wide), water features and sculptures, two terminals and a network of wide tree-lined boulevards in a new commercial area.

The main runway would be extended to allow planes carrying up to 70 people to land, with the aim of making the airport a major subregional facility, although not in competition with Wellington Airport.

In 1995 the National government sold the airport complex to Murray Cole and some associates for $1.65 million. Soon afterward the new owners sold part of the area to a developer for $800,000.

In 2004 Te Whanau a te Ngarara and airport users opposed Paraparaumu Airport Ltd's application for a plan change to include a mix of airport-residential, commercial, general business and varied aviation use.

The iwi staged an occupation at the airport in protest that the land had not been offered back to it, as members believed it should have been under the Public Works Act, through which it was taken during World War 2.

- NZPA


Incidentally the airport was sold despite a Maori claim on the land, which is interesting. See
www.radionz.co.nz/news/latest/200605311658/949176f

Paraparaumu airport sale angers Maori claimants
Posted at 5:00pm on 31 May 2006

The new owners of Paraparaumu Airport say they are planning a massive redevelopment for the site, which they hope will transform the airport into a sub-regional base.

However, the move has angered Maori groups, who say any land surplus to requirements should be offered back to them for sale under the Public Works Act.

The new owner, Noel Robinson, says the entire 130 hectare site will be needed for future development of the airport. He says he plans to invest $750 million in upgrading the airport and improving landing space to accommodate 70-seater aeroplanes.

Mr Robinson says a buffer zone is needed around the outside of the airport to mitigate noise issues for nearby houses.

He says there are no plans to develop the land into a residential area, despite zoning allocations which would allow it.

A spokesperson for Te Whanau a Te Ngarara, Peter Love, says he will take the developers to court over the land if necessary.

Copyright © 2006 Radio New Zealand

[corsair67]

Good to hear that the new owner has the 'weird' idea of keeping an airport as an airport, and not just turning it into a new suburb!

Still, I will wait to see what actually comes out of all this because as has happened to several airports here in Australia, there's quite often a huge difference between what is said and what is actually done by new owners. Rent for airport tenants can also jump quite considerably too.

Also, there's the wowser factor to consider: all the idiots who have bought homes near the airport, but who will start whining when it gets busier, especially if it becomes a second airport for Wellington!

The local iwi can go and get stuffed! After seeing how Ngai Tahu Inc have kneecapped Wigram, the local Maori don't deserve to be given this airfield.

[Dave Homewood]

NIMBY's are an airport's worst enemy these days. They should be shot like birds on the perimeter!

As for the tribal issues, I don't know the circumstances of the claim to the land. If it were taken from the tribe under the Public Works Act in WWII when they established a fighter base there, and promised to get it back, maybe they have a claim to the title (like the Raglan case). But I would think that any land taken for RNZAF use wuld have been adequately compensated for at the time, would it not?

[Bruce]

This is not necessarily a good thing for general aviation. At Hamilton the airport has developed over the last few years, and as leases are based on market value, recreational users cant afford to base thier aircraft there any more. It is a huge concern to the SAA as the Wellington chapter owns several hangars at PP, which will need to be either moved or new ones built. At the same time the leases will be revalued, which is likely to mean that they get priced out of the field. This has happened overseas as well. the developers dont appreciate "normal" recreational aircraft owners because they cant pay as much as big business owners with huge disposable incomes. As far as they are concerned everyone who owns an aircraft must be wealthy and willing to pay whatever is asked. While it is good this is an aviation development - I view it with severe concerns for the wellbeing of the recreational users of this important airfield.

[Dave Homewood]

"As far as they are concerned everyone who owns an aircraft must be wealthy and willing to pay whatever is asked. "

With the price of fuel and insurance these days, they probably have a point

[corsair67]

Bruce, your comments are spot on. I wasn't aware if New Zealand had begun to experience the heavy hand of market rents on airfields yet, but Bankstown Airport in Sydney is a 'good' example here with some rentals allegedly rising by as much as 130%!

Another feature of airport development has been the loss of facilities/land within the airfield perimeter to commercial development, and again Bankstown is a good example of this too with one runway being closed, and a Bunnings Warehouse being built at the end of another runway!

Still, maybe Paraparaumu's new owners will be better than this? I guess the next 12 months or so will tell.

[Peter Lewis]

Already happened at Ardmore, with the 07 runway permanantly closed some time ago

[corsair67]

What was the reasoning behind the runway closure at Ardmore?

[Peter Lewis]

What was the reasoning behind the runway closure at Ardmore?
Dollars...

The 07/25 runway was closed two or three years ago, the only current aviation use for it seems to be taxii access for Airwork and Christian Aviation.
Quite a few months ago, town planning notices appeared on the fences in this area, so I guess some development is planned.
Currently a car skid-training organization uses the 07 threshold area for their training purposes.

Overall, I guess the attitude is that "We have invested xx million dollars in the land and buildings here, and if we cannot achieve y% return on our investment from aviation-related activities on the site then we will look at using some or all of the land for more profitable purposes".

[corsair67]

Gee, airport owners/devlopers are usually much more cunning than that! The best trick is to let facilities run down so that they become unusable or unsafe, then say "Oh dear, we can't afford to fix this runway so we'll build a warehouse or a few houses on top of it."!