A Dunedin developer is challenging the Dunedin City Council after he was charged more than $21,000 in resource consent fees.
Simon Eddy, of Eddy AP Ltd, has objected to the fees which relate to his application for consent to build a $1.5 millionchild care centre in Caversham.
The agenda for a hearing on the fee objection being held next month details the make-up of the $21,525.36 in fees, which included charging $159 an hour for work carried out by senior planners.
A report by senior planner John Sule said the council offered to cut fees by $3601.61 after Mr Eddy complained to chief executive Sue Bidrose, but he declined the offer.
Mr Sule said it was accepted the fees were "very high'' compared with other limited and notified consents in the past three years, but reflected the "complex'' nature of the application.
The significant opposition from nearby residents meant the case was similar in scale to a complex notified resource consent.
"While experience has shown that consents for child care facilities can be challenging, it was probably not anticipated by the applicant or the council that it would prove to be as challenging as it was,'' he said.
Mr Eddy declined to comment yesterday, saying he was awaiting completion of an expert review of the fees.
Last year, Mr Eddy said he had abandoned plans to build a child care centre on the site.
Yesterday he said he was undecided on the site's future and had not ruled out going ahead with a child care centre.
