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The panel’s recommendations were released last week, on July 27.
“Across Auckland there is a significant change in the density proposed by the Independent Hearings Panel,” Cr John Watson says. “In the recommendations, the zones that allow for larger sites have reduced from that initially put forward by Council – Single House Zone has been reduced by 22 percent, Large Lot by 4.10 percent and Rural & Coastal Settlement Zone by 16.42 percent. By contrast, the panel recommends that the more intensive Mixed Housing Suburban goes up by 4.91 percent, Mixed Housing Urban by 47.73 percent and Terrace Housing and Apartments by 25.34 percent.”
“The last two in particular represent a major change in the potential density allowable,” Cr Watson says.
However, Cr Wayne Walker says that, in comparison to the rest of Auckland, the Coast remains one of the least affected areas. “Much of Whangaparaoa remains single house, as does Stillwater, with Orewa a mixture of zonings,” he says.
The green belt (Rural Urban Boundary, or RUB), which has been already eroded by Future Urban zonings on the Coast, is retained but made softer – with new provisions that enable it to be altered by developers via a private plan change. “This change substantially alters the nature of the RUB and is a significant change which is expected to have important consequences,” the recommendations state. Effectively, it puts more power in the hands of developers as to where development can occur.
The zoning changes will accommodate an additional 422,000 dwellings in Auckland by 2040 – with 14,000 in the rural zones.
When adopted, the Unitary Plan will replace all the legacy Councils’ District Plans and is a blueprint for growth in Auckland over the next 30 years.
The panel spent the last two years formulating the plan, after considering more than 13,000 submissions and 10,000 items of evidence.
Auckland Council will make decisions on the recommendations at meetings from August 10 to 18. Those decisions will be publicly notified on August 19 on the Council website.
The full set of recommendation reports and the panel’s version of the Unitary Plan is at: aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/unitaryplan
Key local developments
Residential development could proceed at 1 Poplar Lane, Stanmore Bay, but less intensive than anticipated by the site’s owner, who saw potential for 200–300 dwellings (pictured). The panel recommended the zoning go from Light Industrial to Residential, Large Lot. The Poplar Trust, owner of the site, which is accessed from Whangaparaoa Road, applied for Terrace Housing and Apartment zoning. The Large Lot zones provide for residential development that is low intensity and reflects the land characteristics and/or service constraints of the location.
According to Waiwera planner Raewyn Catlow, the panel has allowed Waiwera Properties to get almost all the changes it wanted in the town centre. The company wanted the Waiwera Precinct amended to allow buildings to a maximum height of 18m (12.5m was the limit in the notified Unitary Plan). The recommendation is for a 16m–18m height limit (pictured). Local character could also be affected as changes may allow the bottling plant to expand in the town centre. “I’m very disappointed because the panel hasn’t supported anything that the Waiwera residents asked for,” Raewyn Catlow says.
The owners of a large piece of undulating rural land between Hatfields Beach and Waiwera (203 Weranui Rd, known as Chin Hill) have already applied for resource consent for their development, which was focused around lifestyle blocks. The notified Unitary Plan zoned the land Rural Production and Rural Coastal but the owners, Kauri Orewa, sought zoning that includes areas of Countryside Living. The panel’s recommendation that the zoning be a mix that includes Future Urban, with a small sliver of Rural Coastal, would allow even more intensive development to occur on the site, a large part of which is deemed a Significant Ecological Area, and Outstanding Natural Landscape.
On the Coast
Among the notable recommendations are:
- The Gulf Harbour ‘precinct’ is gone (with the residential development cap of 2913 removed on the basis, according to the panel, that existing resource consents are in place that reflect this cap).
- Terraced Housing and Apartments zoning, 4–6 storeys now around Whangaparaoa Plaza.
- In Orewa, a three-block extension of Terrace Housing and Apartments along Hibiscus Coast Highway from the town centre south.
- The former Knowledge Economy zone in Silverdale has been changed to General Business.
- The Weiti Block development remains limited to 550 dwellings, not the 1450 sought by developer Williams Land via the Unitary Plan.
- Waiwera planner Raewyn Catlow says that her principal concerns are that Mixed Housing Suburban will be the most common zoning, Auckland-wide. She says it allows four dwellings, as of right, on a site without resource consent (within certain development controls such as height to boundary). She says five or more dwellings per site require consent, but these will be exempt from notification with no need for sign off from neighbours. She is also worried about insufficient protection from overshadowing by neighbouring properties, caused by height to boundary rules.
