Hamilton developer sitting on ‘millions’ worth of land due to wastewater restrictions

Wednesday, 11 June 2025

‘It’s stalled, all that money, that growth,’ Clapson Construction co-owner Keith Clapson told councillors.

A housing handbrake has left some $12 million worth of a Hamilton firm’s properties “growing grass, getting fly-dumped”, councillors have heard.

An overloaded sewerage system has effectively shut down development in large parts of the city since 2023, to avoid putting the system under extra pressure.

The hard reality of the restrictions was shared with a council committee on Tuesday by Clapson Construction co-owner Keith Clapson.

“We currently have 13 development sites spread across Hamilton in the constraint area, that’s approximately about $12 million sitting there growing grass, getting fly-dumped,” he told the strategic growth and district plan committee meeting.

“It’s stalled, all that money, that growth, [those] new houses, the re-charging of Hamilton.”

Clapson also appealed for some slack so more disability-friendly housing could be built.

Melville is one of the areas affected by the clampdown. Pictured is housing around Mahoe Street.

In April council figures showed Hamilton’s overloaded sewer pipes had scuttled about 750 potential developments in a little over two years.

Clapson’s comments on Tuesday were related to chairperson Sarah Thomson’s report noting “one of the biggest pressure points right now is wastewater”.

She said the council had been collaborating with developers to find solutions to the constraints.

A public excluded councillor workshop was being held Tuesday afternoon to look at solutions, with a report on options due at a council meeting on 26 June. The council said staff felt a closed session was needed for a range of reasons but it was expected the 26 June report would be publicly available.

Clapson told councillors that when the “lockdown” on development due to wastewater capacity issues was introduced his firm had already knocked down a couple of houses and 16 new homes for Kāinga Ora were under contract. “With no land use consents approved those deals were quickly cancelled.”

He was worried the relevant properties might be locked up till 2033.

“I’m going to be 100 by the time these houses get sorted out,” he joked.

Councillor Andrew Bydder asked whether there might be “spare capacity” in constrained areas to help with disabled housing.

Clapson hoped the council could look at more flexibility for building housing for the disabled in the constrained areas.

That would bring a ”small deserving part of the community great relief“, he said.

Councillor Andrew Bydder asked strategy, growth and planning general manager Blair Bowcott whether there was any “spare capacity” in constrained areas that could be prioritised for disabled housing.

Bowcott said that was a subject for the afternoon workshop and the report to the 26 June council meeting.

Bydder, meanwhile, asked Clapson what he thought of properties being able to have tanks that could store wastewater on site and use pumps to move it to the main system at times of low demand.

Clapson wasn’t keen, saying this could open the council up to “health problems”.

“Who’s going to police it? I wouldn’t like to be council with that around.”