Stewart McKenzie
From:
Wendy Walker
Sent:
Thursday, 8 September 2022 9:13 am
To:
[email address]
Cc:
Ross Leggett; Mayor Mailbox; Izzy Ford; Kylie Wihapi; Faafoi Seiuli; Moze Galo; Josh
Trlin; Nathan Waddle; Geoff Hayward; Mike Duncan
Subject:
RE: [EXTERNAL] Housing Intensification - Scope of Variation 1 to the Proposed District
Plan
Kia ora Brian,
In response to your email to Cl r Ross Leggett on Thursday 1 September.
You assert with respect to qualifying matters that ‘Variation 1 as it is currently drafted does not apply the exclusions
provided for in Section 77I. Nor does the Council explain why those exclusions have not been applied.”
You also advise that ‘Natural hazards, coastal setbacks, significant natural areas, wetlands, historical and cultural values
etc [a]re other resource management concepts that could have been incorporated as ‘Qualifying Matters’ into the
planning assessment, potential y resulting in reduced development intensity in certain areas.’
To confirm, the Council has been extensively advised on qualifying matters over the past 5 years, and the Proposed
District Plan (PDP) as notified in August 2020 takes a comprehensive approach to the identification and application of
qualifying matters. These are typically shown as overlays on the PDP planning maps with accompanying District Wide
chapters containing objectives, policies and rules in relation to them. The qualifying matters as notified in the PDP apply
equal y to Variation 1, and it therefore wasn’t necessary to comprehensively revisit these through Variation 1.
In practice, this means that where the Medium Density Residential Zone and other urban zones overlap with qualifying
matters, the rules relating to qualifying matters apply which will limit the extent of housing intensification enabled in these
areas. This approach is summarised in the ‘How the District Plan works’ section in the introduction to the PDP, copied
below:
Integrated management of natural and physical resources
The National Planning Standards require that a district plan takes an integrated approach to the sustainable management
of natural and physical resources. This means that all chapters in the Plan should be viewed in conjunction. Combined,
the zone chapters in Part 3: Area Specific Matters and District-Wide chapters in Part 2: District-Wide Matters, achieve
the integrated management of the use, development and subdivision of land within that zone and across the city. For
example, this includes the overlays for natural hazards, the natural environment, historic heritage and sites and areas of
significance to Māori, which manage these features within the individual zones. There are also district-wide chapters such
as Earthworks, Contaminated Land, Hazardous Substances and Three Waters which manage the effects of new
development on infrastructure, land, air, and water quality. These provisions also operate alongside other regulations
including the Natural Resources Plan for the Wel ington Region and relevant National Environmental Standards to
manage land, air, and water quality at the zone level and for the city overall. A step-by-step guide to How the District Plan
works as a whole is further explained in the rest of this section.
The PDP and Variation 1 also identify a number of additional qualifying matters that limit intensification in certain areas in
accordance with S77I and S77O RMA . These take the form of rules that modify the height and density requirements of
the Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS), and are listed in Tables 1 and 2 in section 2.7.1 of the ‘Section 32
Evaluation Report - Part A - Overview’ in support of Variation 1. There are 38 of these rules in total. Link to the s32 report
here: https://storage.googleapis.com/pcc-wagtail-media/documents/Section_32_Evaluation_Report_-_Part_A_-
_Overview_to_s32_Evaluation.pdf
As these qualifying matters were already largely in place through the PDP, it was not considered necessary to go into
detail regarding these matters in the Officer Recommendation Report to Te Puna Korero on 23 June 2022. The new
qualifying matters introduced through Variation 1 were referenced as height variation control areas and new flood hazard
maps in the Officer Report. Referring to these qualifying matters in this way was purposeful as it more clearly defines
1
what they are, rather than the broader and more ambiguous ‘qualifying matters’ terminology. Relevant points from section
7 of the Officers Recommendation Report:
i. New zone maps showing the spatial extent of all new and revised zones, intensification precincts, and height
variation control areas;
j. Insertion of flood hazard maps for urban catchments not included with the notified PDP; and
In relation to the points raised with respect to wastewater network capacity, this matter is already dealt with by the PDP
Three Waters chapter. This is considered the appropriate method from a resource management perspective to deal with
this matter, and Policy 3 is included below for reference:
THWT-P3 Three Waters Network Capacity
Where the level of service of the reticulated water supply, reticulated wastewater and stormwater management networks
is insufficient to service the number of residential units proposed, or is insufficient to service the size of the building and
associated activity proposed, only al ow use and development when it can be demonstrated that:
1. It incorporates measures that appropriately mitigate any adverse effects on the Three Waters Network and meet
the performance criteria of the Wellington Water Regional Standard for Water Services May 2019; and
2. The additional demand generated can be accommodated by the Three Waters Network, without resulting in
increased flood risk, increased wastewater overflows or reduced pressure in the reticulated water network.
In terms of development capacity as defined by the NPS-UD (which includes three waters network capacity), the PDP
also works in an integrated manner with Local Government Act plans and processes. These include the Long term Plan
(LTP) and development contributions policy. I suggest reading section 5.5 of the overarching s32 Report (link above) to
better understand the integrated approach PCC is taking towards providing sufficient development capacity to enable
housing intensification.
Final y, I can advise that the Intensification Streamlined Planning Process that Council is fol owing with respect to
Variation 1 includes a submissions, further submissions and hearings process. This is the appropriate process for
concerns regarding qualifying matters to be raised and we do encourage submissions
Ngā mihi,
Wendy Walker
Chief Executive
Kaiwhakahaere Matua
Tel: 04 237 1401
poriruacity.govt.nz
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------
From: [email address]
Date: 31 August 2022 at 11:54:21 AM NZST
To: Ross Leggett <[email address]>
Cc: Mayor Mailbox <[email address]>, Izzy Ford <[email address]>, Kylie
Wihapi <[email address]>, Faafoi Seiuli <[email address]>, Moze
2
Galo <[email address]>, Josh Trlin <[email address]>, Nathan Waddle
<[email address]>, Geoff Hayward <[email address]>, Mike
Duncan <[email address]>, Wendy Walker <[email address]>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Housing Intensification - Scope of Variation 1 to the Proposed District Plan
Hel o Ross (and other council ors)
I’m fol owing up on your comment Ross about housing intensification during the Wastewater Treatment
Plant and Landfil Joint Committee meeting yesterday.
You seem to be under the impression that the Medium Density and High Density residential zonings
proposed with Variation 1 to the Proposed District Plan are a fait accompli, or in your words
“mandated by central government”.
As I said yesterday, this is incorrect.
In this regard I refer you to my comment about the draft variation and dated 18 April 2022 (see
attached).
In those comments I noted the fol owing:
“The Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021
(‘the Amendment Act’) introduced into the principal act the concept of ‘Qualifying Matters’. The
concept of qualifying matters only applies to land that is “within a residential zone”. Section 77I
al ows the Council to draft Medium Density Residential Standards in Variation 1 that are less
enabling for development.
The Qualifying Matters are listed in s.77I (a) to (h) as being ……..
Variation 1 as it is currently drafted does not apply the exclusions provided for in Section 77I. Nor
does the Council explain why those exclusions have not been applied.”
This is the factual situation.
If the concept of ‘Qualifying Matters’ had been explored by council staff they might have come to the
conclusion (for example) that intensification in Titahi Bay is not appropriate (at least currently) because
the wastewater infrastructure is not capable of servicing the existing level of development (proven with
over 10 overflow events each year at the Rukutane Point pump station) let alone development
contributing more sewage.
Natural hazards, coastal setbacks, significant natural areas, wetlands, historical and cultural values
etc re other resource management concepts that could have been incorporated as ‘Qualifying Matters’
into the planning assessment, potential y resulting in reduced development intensity in certain areas.
If council staff has chosen not to explain this (ie: how Qualifying Matters are able to negate the concept
of a government ‘mandate’) sufficiently to council ors, then they done the Council and the ratepayers a
significant disservice.
3
In this regard I note that the term ‘Qualifying Matter’ is not used in the officers’ report (by S McKenzie
and N Etheridge) presented to the Council at its meeting on 23 June 2022. Perhaps that is something
that council ors could explore with council staff at the Te Puna Korero meeting tomorrow.
I’m happy to contribute further to this discussion if that would be useful for you and other council ors.
Brian Warburton
4
