Independent commissioner Rob van Voorthuysen has been appointed to decide on the Dunedin City Council application.
Mr van Voorthuysen chaired the hearings for Green Island’s contentious successor, the planned Smooth Hill landfill near Brighton, for which he granted consent in 2022.
In his first written minute in this process, Mr van Voorthuysen said the Otago Regional Council was due to produce an assessment of the environmental effects of the DCC’s Green Island landfill proposal before the end of next month.
He said, though, the ORC had already produced a "very comprehensive" notification report late last year.
The DCC has applied to continue using the Green Island landfill until the end of the decade then close it and provide "aftercare" for the site.
The DCC’s consent to operate the Green Island landfill expired in October 2023, but the Resource Management Act allows for consent holders to continue to exercise existing consents while applying for replacement ones.
DCC plans to redevelop the site into a "resource recovery park precinct", with composting, recycling, sorting and other related activities on site, are well under way.
Consent was granted for the bulk of that part of the operation late last year.
An organics building was previously granted consent and has already been built.
Only four submissions were made for the upcoming hearing for the Green Island landfill extension application — and none was opposed.
However, odour issues were raised and Otago Fish & Game and Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou both raised concerns the landfill could be leaching into Kaikorai Estuary.
The two-day Green Island hearing is set for March 18 and 19 at Toitū Otago Settlers Museum.
