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Puhoi residents are planning to launch a legal challenge to the Unitary Plan, after last-minute zoning changes opened the door to substantial housing development in the village.
About 40 people attended a public meeting organised by the Puhoi Forum to voice their opposition to the changes, which could double the size of the town.
The changes affect a 55.3ha block of land in the village, which has been rezoned from Rural Production to Rural and Coastal Settlement, reducing the minimum site size from 100ha to 2500m2.
At the meeting there was a resounding view that the Unitary Plan process had run roughshod over the will of the community.
“It’s completely counter to anything we wanted in our Structure Plan and in our submission on the Unitary Plan,” one person said. “Over the years this will eat away at the way Puhoi looks as people continue to subdivide.”
It has made many in the town question the purpose of creating a Puhoi Structure Plan in 2010, if it didn’t have any impact on plans for the town.
People were also concerned about the impact of wastewater from further residential development.
The forum resolved to form a working group to investigate making an appeal to the plan.
The changes appear to be in response to landowner and former America’s Cup skipper Chris Dickson, whose submission on the plan asked for zoning changes to his 40ha block on Saleyards Road, along with a concept plan for a 24-site subdivision.
Auckland Council planners opposed the changes, saying it would go against the 2010 Structure Plan, which called for no further residential intensification in the area.
The plan states, “the Puhoi catchment has little capacity to absorb any further intensification, other than that already provided for under current zoning, if it is to maintain its historic character and rural feel”.
But the Unitary Plan Hearings Panel adopted the changes in its recommendations and went even further, expanding the proposed settlement zone by 5.5ha to include four additional properties.
To compound matters, it recommended reducing the minimum section size for the Rural and Coastal zone from 4000m2 sites to 2500m2. Council adopted both changes last month.
If all of the rezoned land was subdivided to its maximum capacity it would allow for 221 sections, but protected native bush and topography means this is unlikely.
But Mr Dickson says he has no intention of subdividing his land, despite specifically requesting the zoning changes to enable a sizeable residential development.
“I didn’t have plans to subdivide it then and I don’t now,” Mr Dickson says.
He says development in Puhoi has been occurring in an ad hoc manner and his submission was based on what he believes is the best location for development in the town.
He says there is nothing contradictory in calling for his land to be rezoned to enable more intensified development, while maintaining he has no plans to develop the land.
“Development has been happening in Puhoi for the past 15 years. It’s better it happens in a considered manner where houses are most suited. The Unitary Plan invited public submissions and I was one of thousands who took that opportunity.”
Earlier this year, Mr Dickson was also granted a resource consent for a small number of sites on his land.
He says he has no plan to make use of the consent.
