Who remembers the Silverlight Film studio planned for Wanaka? It was a massive project offering ten sound stages, workshops, production offices, a film school, screening theatres, post-production facilities, back lots replicating international film locations (New York, Venice, European Cities etc), a lake, a medieval village, a banquet hall, a lake village and a replica of New York's Central Park.

The project received fast-track approval in December 2021.

I don't know why the Silverlight project failed, but it always seemed far too ambitious in scale. Now developers propose to transform the site with 240 visitor accommodation units, workers’ accommodation, two 18-hole golf courses, a driving range, a hospitality precinct and a hotel.

Because the world doesn't have enough golf courses.

https://archive.ph/kjaAG

#NZ #FastTrack #Wanaka #Silverlight

A Sovereign Citizen couple bought a Hikurangi house in 2015 and stopped paying rates two years later.

Unsurprisingly, the Whangārei District Council took a dim view of the situation and sent numerous statements over the years, while penalties and interest accrued. The total debt is now over $40k.

"But the couple didn’t pay, and in early 2021 they sent the council’s chief executive a “proclamation of self-determination and individual sovereignty” as well as a notice of trespass."

Whoop whoop! SovCit alert!

The Council applied to sell the house and won, but the couple appealed the District Court decision to the High Court.

Representing himself (!) in Court, Timaru Davis claimed that the Rating Act did not apply to them.

Judge said "Nah!"

https://www.stuff.co.nz/home-property/360999843/couple-who-refused-pay-rates-10-years-may-lose-their-house

#Hikurangi #SovCit #NZ