Memo
To:
His Worship the Mayor, Councillors,
From:
Senior Planner (Policy)
Executive Leadership Team
Subject: PC50 Outcomes & Methods Engagement
File:
351/12-047
Overview and Workshop
Date:
2/12/2020
Plan Change 50 – Outcomes & Methods Engagement
Overview and Dec 9 Workshop
Introduction & Purpose
1. The purpose of this memo is to: provide a high-level overview of the response received on the
latest phase of public engagement on Plan Change 50 (PC50); provide a copy of the associated
final draft Engagement Report; as well as outline the purpose of the forthcoming Councillor
Workshop on 9 December 2020.
2. The purpose of the forthcoming Councillor Workshop will be to:
a. Provide an overview of feedback received;
b. Seek Councillor endorsement on the Engagement Report’s public release;
c. Detail our thoughts on proposed responses, noting a further workshop will cover this in
detail in the New Year;
d. Provide an overview of Southern Growth Area inclusion, including: plan change
development rationale; indicative planning controls; plan change scenarios and alternative
options;
e. Outline next steps for Plan Change 50.
Overall public feedback
3. Two papers were released on 30 September 2020 seeking public feedback on 72 proposed
Strategic Objectives and Policies for rural and residential areas, remaining open until 2 November
2020. Additional material was also released on the PC50 project webpage, including further
supplementary reporting and explanatory information. A proactive social media campaign was
enacted, with advertising and feedback material available at all libraries and the Civic Building,
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with officers also engaging people on early morning commuter trains at Silverstream Railway
Station and Upper Hutt Main Station.
4. Over the engagement period, 129 respondents formally provided feedback across both papers,
with the website receiving over 450 unique views, or approximately 100 unique views per week.
This rate was similar to the last PC50 engagement.
5. Respondents were encouraged to provide their feedback via an online feedback form platform
available on Council’s webpage. This platform sought to tailor the feedback form based on the
areas of interest to respondents by firstly asking which topics they were interested in, then only
providing questions which related to relevant objectives and policies.
6. This was a novel approach to seek feedback, intended to streamline the feedback process to
review the wide set of objectives and policies more effectively. This online platform proved to be a
popular means to provide feedback, with 83% of respondents choosing to provide feedback online.
The remainder simply emailed in their feedback to the PC50 email inbox, with informal feedback
provided via phone or front desk enquiry. No respondent provided feedback in physical form.
7. The nature of the feedback platform meant that no single objective or policy received a 100%
response rate. As above, it was an intentional decision to allow respondents to target those areas
of interest and to increase the quality of feedback received.
8. The feedback received across papers was fairly even, with 60% of responses towards the
residential paper and 40% towards the rural paper. However, when evaluating the number of
topics covered, the balance was contained in rural responses, at over 700 topics, with the
residential paper receiving just over 650 topics. This was reflective of the diversity of interest
respondents on the rural paper had. The following provides a brief overview of response themes.
Key feedback topic areas
9. The following briefly details those topics that received polarising feedback, both for and against.
Areas of high support
10. The following areas received a high degree of support from respondents across rural and
residential papers:
a. Three waters infrastructure and roading infrastructure:
i. Respondents noted current constraints with these assets and the importance of
developing with appropriate consideration of suitable infrastructure, including
their ability to deliver sustainable solutions.
b. Sustainability, climate change, and resilience:
i. Respondents acknowledged development should occur sustainably with
resilience in mind, in many cases advocating for stronger requirements.
c. Urban Design:
i. For the residential paper, respondents commonly stated that high urban design
standards should be required in the face of growing housing demand and the
need for intensification.
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d. Medium density and high density intensification areas:
i. For the residential paper, respondents expressed a high degree of support for
both proposals to increase density around (and within) the CBD and railway
stations, recognising the multiple benefits of this approach to both increase
housing supply and provide a living style with a high degree of accessibility.
e. Rural character controls:
i. For the rural paper, respondents were supportive of the description of rural
character and the parameters, with high support for the use of landscaping to
retain rural character.
Key areas of objection
11. The following details the two dominant topics that respondents expressed the greatest objection
to:
a. Southern Growth Area (SGA) – Many respondents on the residential paper expressed
specific objection to development on the Pinehaven Hills or Silverstream Spur. This
contrast can be seen in the difference in response rates for SGA-related policies and
others, with about a 40% difference between the two, representing a significant drop-off.
Specific points raised by those respondents on objection included:
i. Density over growth area;
ii. Stormwater runoff;
iii. Capacity constraints for three waters, roading, and community facilities;
iv. Visual impact of removing green backdrop; and
v. Ecological value of the site.
b. Maymorn Development – A large proportion of respondents on the rural paper expressed
specific objection to proposals for development within the Maymorn Area.
i. Most of these respondents were specifically supportive to an extension of the
rural lifestyle zone to abut existing Maclaren Street density.
ii. These respondents believed that the productive capacity of the area was limited
and the current densities meant that production was not commercially viable.
iii. The balance of other respondents on Maymorn development were against any
development, noting their desire to retain the rural aesthetic and amenity of the
area – which both parties (for and against) believed should be the objective of
any development.
12. Other areas where there was notable negative feedback included:
a. Rural:
i. Development on rural hill policies;
ii. Rural production and high productivity protection;
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iii. Intensification areas and extent; and
iv. Rural visitor accommodation and business;
b. Residential:
i. No or reduced minimum allotment sizes; and
ii. Visitor accommodation.
Scope of public feedback in relation to PC50
13. In many of the cases feedback received from respondents touched upon matters that were outside
of the scope of PC50 consideration. To quickly summarise, the scope of PC50 includes the review
of all objectives and provisions in the District Plan associated with current and future rural and
residential zones, including associated subdivision controls. The following highlights some of the
specific matters' submitters discussed that will not be considered as part of the plan change and
instead where they best can be addressed.
14. Many of the points raised related to engineering, network utility, or three waters controls (e.g.,
hydraulic neutrality, earthworks, and transmission lines). While material referred to some of these,
it is likely that much of these will be addressed during the rolling District Plan review via specific
plan changes. The bulk of these will be through Plan Change 46 – Engineering Code of Practice &
Esplanades, which is intended to be notified in 2021. Other matters raised by respondents that will
be addressed in separate plan changes including biodiversity and the integration of community
facilities and commerce within development areas, the latter of which will be addressed in the
forthcoming PC50 workshop.
15. In addition, respondents commonly referred to additional water quality standards, such as the
quality of water discharges, protection of waterways and water sources, and effluent management.
All these matters are controlled through the Regional Plan, in accordance with the prescribed
responsibilities of regional and local councils under sections 30 and 31 of the Resource
Management Act 1991, respectively. In terms of regional and local council crossover, Council is
only required to give effect to matters contained within the Regional Policy Statement (RPS), noting
that in many cases applicants would need to obtain both local and regional consents for any
moderate to significant works. The current RPS for the Greater Wellington Region is from 2013 and
is not intending to be reviewed until 2021.
16. Lastly, respondents also referred (directly or indirectly) to several current and possible new Council
policies throughout feedback, which are outlined below:
a. Development Contributions Policy (DCs Policy);
i. Respondents stated their objection to Council paying for infrastructure required to
service new developments, seeking a user-pays model. Given there are currently
no urban development contributions, a new DCs policy will be required prior to
PC50 gaining legal effect. This will be elaborated on further in the Councillor
Workshop.
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b. Residential Stimulus Policy;
i. While not directly discussed in feedback, respondents did state that housing
diversity and intensification was a priority with some urgency. The Residential
Stimulus Policy currently promotes the development of Comprehensive
Residential Developments (CRDs) only, with a fixed budget and scope, with the
objective to increase the number of CRDs being constructed. To be as effective as
possible, the policy would need to align with the direction of PC50 prior to gaining
legal effect.
c. Sustainability incentives and policies;
i. Much of the feedback received on sustainability-related policies, such as passive
housing solutions, renewable energy, and water harvesting, expressed a support
for stronger controls and incentives. This included suggestions of Council grants
to incentivise sustainable solutions, as well as supplementary policies to give
effect to the 2020 Sustainability Strategy. As above, these measures are outside
of the scope for PC50 but are worthwhile for Council to consider further.
17. A complete copy of the final draft engagement report has been included in your Stellar Library for
your consideration.
Core areas likely to be further reviewed
18. The primary purpose of the next Councillor workshop is to provide an overview of feedback we
received in this phase of public engagement. The next phase of public engagement will be a
significant step towards finalising the proposal for the rural and residential review, being the
release of full draft objectives, provisions, and zoning for public feedback before public notification
within 12 months thereafter.
19. An overview of the plan change schedule in the lead up to this next phase of public engagement is
provided as Attachment 1 to this Memo.
20. This details that in February 2021, a workshop with Councillors is scheduled to fully detail how we
intend to respond to feedback received and finalise objectives and policies to set the direction of
associated rules and zoning extent. As a precursor to this, it is worthwhile to highlight some of our
immediate thoughts on likely proposed changes to core policy. These are as follows:
a. Amalgamation of some policies and objectives to rationalise policy direction, improve
clarity, and avoid duplication.
b. Dividing the current urban growth area objective into separate objectives to
compartmentalise sites and better address some site-specific sensitivities and
constraints.
c. Creation of a new urban design-related objective and associated policies to better reflect
its priority in directing urban development and intensification and rationalise current
policies.
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d. Creation of a new infrastructure-related objective and associated policies (for rural and
residential chapters) to address capacity-related matters and design solutions more
comprehensively.
e. Continued development of medium and high density intensification extents within the
urban environment to better reflect the latest guidance on implementing the requirements
of the National Policy Statement for Urban Development 2020 (NPS-UD).
i. Work has continued on how best to manage developments within these areas
and a framework for managing effects has been developed. A copy of this report
has been included in your Stellar Library for your consideration.
ii. The workshop intends to detail the process that Ministry guidance on NPS-UD
requirements sets to determine appropriate building heights, recognising that the
minimum required enabled height is six stories within intensification areas.
f. Review the Maymorn and Wallaceville Church rural-residential intensification extents.
Next steps
21. Work has begun to review the current draft policy settings in light of public feedback and will
continue until the next Councillor Workshop.
22. Supplementary reporting to improve our evidence basis will also begin between now and the next
phase of public engagement. This includes the likes of: urban design guidance (including high
density); updated traffic modelling; rural character; economic cost benefit analysis.
23. In addition to this, ongoing discussions with key stakeholders, landowners, and the various PC50
community groups will continue.
Ike Kleynbos
SENIOR PLANNER (POLICY)
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Attachment 1:
Indicative PC50 development programme (Dec 2020 to Jul 2021)
Dec 2020
-
Councillor Workshop – Objectives & Policies Engagement
Overview
-
Engagement Report release
-
Stakeholder & landowner discussions continue
-
Objectives and Policies development
Jan 2021
-
Stakeholder & landowner discussions continue
-
Objectives and Policies development
Feb 2021
-
Councillor workshop – Finalise Objectives & Policies
-
Provision drafting
-
Supplementary reporting
Mar 2021
-
Provision drafting
-
Supplementary reporting
Apr 2021
-
Councillor workshop – Initial Draft Provisions & Zoning
-
Provision drafting
May 2021
-
Provision drafting
-
Supplementary reporting
Jun 2021
-
Councillor workshop – Objectives, Provisions & zoning
confirmation prior to release & SGA inclusion
-
Public consultation content development
Jul 2021
-
Public engagement opens on Final Draft PC50 objectives,
provisions, and zoning
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