Ratepayers will have to foot a bill of almost $15,000 incurred by the Waitaki District Council to fight an Environment Court challenge over its Forrester Heights subdivision on Cape Wanbrow.
Council chief executive Michael Ross said yesterday the council faced a legal bill of $11,500 and internal staff costs of more than $6000 to prepare for the case brought by the Friendly Bay Society which was withdrawn at an Environment Court sitting in Dunedin on Thursday.
Judge Jeff Smith ordered the society to pay $3000 towards the council's costs - well short of the actual costs incurred.
Council's legal counsel Michael Garbett had asked the court to award costs for all the $11,500 legal expenses and two-thirds of the council's staff costs.
The society withdrew its application for a declaration the 27-section subdivision overlooking Oamaru harbour was unlawful after consultation with Judge Smith in chambers.
Judge Smith did not believe the Environment Court had jurisdiction over the key issues of the society's case.
Mr Ross said that, apart from the cost, staff time spent preparing for the court case was time that could have been spent on other things.
He also pointed out that if the society's challenge succeeded, ratepayers would be left compensating for the $3 million profit expected from the subdivision earmarked for the $9.7 million Oamaru Opera House upgrade and other projects at the Forrester Gallery and North Otago Museum.
"We would need to raise a loan and increase rates," he said. "Any fair-minded person would have to have rocks in their head to go down that path."
The society's members will decide at an annual meeting within the next two weeks whether to take their challenge to the High Court.
