Residential intensification on its way

New housing density rules will change the face of Warkworth’s existing residential area, with taller buildings set closer to neighbours’ boundaries.

That was the message delivered by Warkworth planner Burnette O’Connor to a Warkworth Area Liaison Group meeting this month.

The Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS) will allow three homes of up to three storeys to be built on most residential sites in the town without resource consent.

O’Connor gave the example of Victoria Street in Warkworth, where potentially a house could be replaced with three new dwellings that were up to 12 metres high.

“Suddenly, someone with a sunny north facing house and a view could be looking at the side of a building,” she said. “There is no requirement to consult or notify neighbours.

“It could potentially triple Warkworth’s existing population.”

O’Connor says if the rules just applied to new developments, then at least people would know what they were buying into.

“But that’s not the case in established neighbourhoods. This potentially will have massive social implications, plus we don’t have the parks, open space or infrastructure such as roads, water and wastewater systems to cope with this level of intensification.”

The new MDRS standards, where they apply, will come into effect immediately on August 20, when Auckland Council publicly notifies its plan change to the Unitary Plan.

Residential land in settlements of less than 5000 people are exempt from the rules, as well as large lot residential zone areas and rural and coastal settlement zone areas.

The MDRS is one of two significant central government planning reforms that Council has been mandated to implement. The other is the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD), which also governs the rules around urban density. 

The changes set out in both the NPS-UD and the MDRS are not optional, but Council does have limited decision-making powers.

For instance, it will be able to determine some exemptions, called ‘qualifying matters’, which may allow it to limit building heights or density requirements where intensification may not be suitable such as in areas of cultural, historic or ecological significance, or to avoid development in areas with natural hazards.

O’Connor said she was trying to think of some creative ways of describing the local area so it meets the ‘qualifying matters’ threshold. The potential to use private covenants to circumvent the impacts of the new rules was also being explored.

“We need to make sure that we get as much information to the decision-makers in Council on what locals think should happen to our area as we can.”

Design rules

The MDRS changes are part of the Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021. The Act requires Council to replace its design rules for developments, including height-to-boundary ratios and outdoor space provisions.

Previously any structure needed to fit under a line that started 2.7 metres above a side boundary and rose up at 45 degrees. This is the height-to-boundary requirement that stopped a neighbour’s building from blocking sunlight. The new height-to-boundary requirement is that a building must fit under a line that starts four metres above the side boundary and rises at a much steeper 60 degree angle.
Council is required to change its Unitary Plan to reflect the new rules and called for initial submissions last month. These are now being assessed.

Further submissions will be called for in August when Council publicly notifies the plan change and then an independent hearings panel will consider all submissions and conduct hearings next year. The panel will make recommendations to Council on the necessary changes to the Auckland Unitary Plan by early 2024.

Panel members will be Greg Hill, Kitt Littlejohn, Karyn Kurzeja, Sheena Tepania, Gavin Lister and Richard Knott.