In the last month Auckland Council has opened a consultation window before it makes changes to our Unitary Plan. Changes are directed by an Act of Parliament – the National Policy Statement – Urban Densities (NPS-UD). There are certain qualifying matters that can reduce the impact of the Act on Auckland – and you can have your say via www.haveyoursay/housing – BEFORE 11.59pm MONDAY 9th May 2022
At our well attended public meeting & AGM in the Remuera Library last Thursday the extreme nature of proposed changes and the urgency of citizens response became apparent to all. To aid individuals as they “have their say” we have prepared the following commentary for use when responding to questions raised in the Council’s survey:
KEY MESSAGES FOR PEOPLE PROVIDING FEED BACK
The Council will pay more attention to our response to their survey if you express them in your own words. Some suggested key points are set out below. Council only has limited scope to moderate the Government’s push for intensification, so your feedback will be most effective if it focuses on Council’s specific questions.
Walkable Catchments and Intensification
- We think the proposed walkable catchments for the CBD, metropolitan, centres (e.g. Albany) and rapid transit stops (1200m, 800 m and 800m respectively) are sensible – they will help focus intensification on areas where it is appropriate.
- We do not support Council’s proposal to apply Terrace Housing and Apartment Buildings Zone in areas up to 400m from town centres, or 200m from local centres. We think these distances should be closer, because those centres are already quite small (with limited public transport links and parking), and would lose their neighbourhood feel if they were surrounded by a large band of high density housing.
Special Character Areas
- We do not support Council’s proposal to include just the “identified” (blue) special character areas as a qualifying matter. All existing special character areas should be a qualifying matter.
- Council’s proposed new rules for identifying “special character areas” are too narrow. The existing special character areas should all be retained, including all in Remuera. They are areas of high character value with an important historical heritage. They should be protected to ensure the area keeps its distinctive character and unique history.
- We do not support Council’s proposed residential special character areas. We think there are more areas that should be identified as a qualifying matter – ie, all special character areas, not just a subset.
- Councils scoring system is too restrictive:
- The proposal requires 66% of individual properties in an area to score 5/6 or 6/6 on a character assessment, before the area would qualify to keep its “special character area” status. The 66% threshold should be lower – (eg. 50% – still a majority of character houses)
- Also, properties scoring 4/6 (which council accepts are still “character supporting”) should be counted towards the percentage test as well, not just 5/6 & 6/6.
- Many other suburbs that are keeping their “special character area status” were surveyed in person by Council representatives doing site visits. Remuera was just assessed using Google Street View, which means Council’s scoring for these areas does not properly show their true character status.
Infrastructure Constraints
- We support Council’s proposal to include areas in Auckland with long term significant infrastructure constraints as a qualify in matter, meaning that infrastructure should be taken into account as a limitation on increased housing density.
- There are areas in Remuera already badly affected by freshwater flooding after heavy rainfall. Increased densification will only make that worse, because more building site coverage means more stormwater runoff. The area does not have the stormwater infrastructure to manage that – there are Sensitive Ecological Areas (SEA’s) in Remuera that would be badly harmed by increased silting and runof
AUCKLAND COUNCIL has prepared a preliminary response to the NPS-UD and the Act, that shows how they think they could apply to Auckland. A summary of this preliminary response is explained in the consultation document available on akhaveyoursay.nz/housing, and the planning maps are shown in the draft NPS-UD map viewer (the link to the map viewer is available on akhaveyoursay.nz/housing)