Direction Matiatia Inc

Waiheke Marinas Ltd has sought the Environment Court’s consent to build a private 112 berth marina and associated floating 38 carpark and service facility at Matiatia Bay, Waiheke Island. Please click on Gallery section to see photos of the proposed marina development superimposed on the Bay.

Direction Matiatia Incorporated (DMI) was formed more than two years ago as an umbrella organisation for the Waiheke community to oppose the proposed marina development for the following reasons:

• the development will spoil the aesthetics of the natural beauty of the Island’s gateway ;

• the marina and carpark will privatise approximately 3 hectares of the Bay thereby taking away the community’s right of access to and enjoyment of Matiatia Bay;

• the development will damage the marine environment of the Bay – home to nesting penguins, stingrays, visiting orca and other sea life;

• the development will remove the sense of homecoming which locals feel and the pleasure which thousands of visitors experience when entering Matiatia Bay;

• the development will put at risk our present and future public transport options at the Matiatia transport hub;

• Matiatia Bay is waahi tapu, a sacred place and a marina will always be inappropriate where ancestors are buried; and

• Matiatia Bay is part of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park and a marina is not appropriate here.

DMI, in opposing the proposed marina development in the Environment Court, has had to engage legal representation and a team of expert witnesses – landscape, traffic, cultural, and planning etc.

DMI has raised some $390,000 from the community through selling t-shirts, badges, fridge magnets, plants, jam, held concerts, a celebrity debate, art auctions, raffles and receiving significant donations. Donations included $7,000 collected by a lamb called Multi wearing a donation barrel on her back as she greeted the summer tourist crowds coming to enjoy Waiheke. Our fundraising has been a huge effort and locals and visitors to Waiheke have been fantastic donating amounts large and small.

However, the long drawn out process by Waiheke Marinas Ltd has added greatly to DMI’s expenses. Waiheke Marinas Ltd submitted 3 different plans for a marina at Matiatia. Auckland Council refused consent for the first proposal of 50 berths. Late in 2013, Waiheke Marinas Ltd, with Auckland Council’s agreement, submitted a 160 berth marina and reclamation proposal directly to the Environment Court. Thus the Waiheke community was denied a Council public hearing and instead had to go through the expensive Environment Court process. The case was heard in October 2014. On the second to last day of the 3 week hearing, Waiheke Marinas Ltd withdrew the carpark reclamation part of its proposal.

As a result, the Judge asked Waiheke Marinas Ltd to consider either abandoning its proposal altogether or returning with a significantly smaller marina proposal. The case resumed in July 2015 for a week of extra hearings to examine Waiheke Marinas Ltd’s latest proposal: a 112 berth marina with a floating carpark

This is why DMI needs your help in our cause to preserve Matiatia Bay from the marina development. We still need to raise funds to meet all our legal and expert witness expenses.

The Waiheke community and DMI would be very grateful for any donation which you can make to our cause.