Cromwell is likely to lose a long-established ‘green’ business after a commercial opportunity offered to one Central Otago District Council (CODC) tenant was not offered to a neighbouring tenant.

Cemetery Road businesses Central Wormworx and Otago Metals Central were both told by CODC their leases would be terminated due to the land being rezoned for industrial subdivision.

The worm farm, owned by Robbie Dick, had been offered an alternative location by CODC but Robbie declined, saying it was impractical and too costly to relocate such an operation.

A large shed with a concrete floor, concreted-in posts, an embankment and over a kilometre of buried irrigation piping would be extremely difficult to move, he said.

“Also you’d lose a year because it takes that long for the worms to get established in new dirt.”

Robbie told the Central App he had cast around for buyers after learning of the lease terminating in mid-2023, but none had been keen to take on the 18-year old enterprise as it would need to relocate.

Otago Metals Central part-owner Graeme Rollo told the Central App in mid-June that council had changed its stance and offered his business, located over the fence from Wormworx, a lease extension.  

This week the Cromwell Community Board were told by council staff that Otago Metals Central had subsequently sold the business. The board approved the lease extension for the new owner and also a future possible option for them to purchase the plot.

Outgoing board deputy chair Werner Murray, who works as a planner, said that as a general approach it was important for council to keep the processes as commercial as possible when dealing with its leases and land sales, however, what was good for one should be good for all. 

The continuation - or not - of businesses in the commercial world was rightly ruled by market forces.

“The market should be deciding these things not the board,” he said.

Wormworx’s owner says his business provides a valuable service disposing of thousands of tonnes of organic waste.

It diverts large volumes of food waste from landfill as well as processing material from vineyards and orchards using tiger worms to create soil conditioner known as vermicast. 

The worms are also sold by the kilogram and couriered around the country to break down material in composting toilets, on dairy farms, freezing works and in council waste.

“We’re servicing all those people around New Zealand getting rid of a lot of waste,” Robbie said. 

Organic waste was confirmed, in a report released in April by the Otago Mayoral Forum, as the “emerging problem child” of the waste family.

The CODC pays to dispose of it at the Victoria Flats landfill, owned by the Queenstown Lakes District Council. Payment must be made to the government through the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to off-set Central’s emissions from dumping such refuse.  

In April this year over a third of the $900,000 worth of carbon credits from council-owned pine forests were approved to be sold to offset a considerable budget blow-out from the rising cost of waste disposal.

In July, however, the CODC announced it had contracted EnviroWaste to provide waste management services to the district from next winter. This includes the introduction of a new organic kerbside waste collection and is expected to ease the disposal issue.

In a statement council said at the time the Redruth Resource Recovery Park in Timaru would be used for organics processing temporarily until a new organics processing facility can be constructed in Central Otago.  

At the community board meeting on Monday (September 12) a staff member said they did not believe the worm farm business had “an appetite” to buy its plot in future. How council had researched or gained this information was not explained.

Robbie Dick (75) said last week it had been a few months since he had spoken with council but the last communication had been to give him a “definite no” to a lease extension. He said he wished to stay and that the business was doing well.

He employed a manager and two part-time staff and hoped to semi-retire into a less hands-on role.

He said he didn’t know why his business had not been given the same lease extension opportunity as his neighbour. 

“They’ve [council] got a new plan and we’re not in their plan. Now I’ve got to try and sell it off in parts. I’d never move it and put it down again. It’d be a mammoth job, too hard.”

He said his staff were very busy despite the fact it was not quite “full-on gardening weather” yet in Central Otago.

“We can’t keep up with the worm orders or the castings.”

The plot was estimated to have a future value of between $4M and $5M, the community board meeting heard. This was similar to the metal recycling plot where the new owners had indicated, when asked by council, that they were likely to be keen to buy at that level.

The Central App also approached mayor Tim Cadogan for comment, who referred the enquiry to board chair Anna Harrison.

Anna said she could not comment on council processes and was unavailable as she was attending a conference outside of Central Otago.

The plots are part of a 52ha block of land currently subject to a plan change process to rezone them from rural to industrial use.  

The Central App asked council to clarify if the worm farm was offered a lease extension and possible site retention, similar to that offered to the metal recycling business.

CODC property and facilities manager Garreth Robinson responded by saying it was proposed that on expiry of the current lease on the recycling site, the new owner will be granted a new short-term lease. 

‘This activity is consistent with the proposed rezoning and future development of the land.”

He said “numerous conversations” have been had with the worm farm and an alternative site more suitable for the business was offered and declined.

In response to a question regarding why one business was offered an extension and not the other, he said the metal recycling activity was “consistent with the proposed rezoning and future development of the land”.