Draft Replacement Plan Change for Proposed Plan Change 78 - Intensification
Auckland Council has published its draft plan change to replace Plan Change 78 here: Draft Replacement Plan Change for Proposed PC78.
While, as anticipated, this removes the unnecessary and unpopular Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS) which allowed for the ugly three houses on residential sections which have been springing up all over Auckland, in many ways it is even worse.
It responds to a Government directive that requires Council to zone for another 2 million residences in Auckland and requires our Council to permit the construction of apartment blocks of 15, 10 and 6 storeys across a vast swathe of suburban Auckland.
This includes blocks of least 15 storeys anywhere within an 800m radius of the Morningside, Kingsland and Maungawhau Train Stations – a 10 minute walkable catchment - and 6 storeys within a 200 metre radius of bus routes along streets such as Dominion Rd and Remuera Rd.
Auckland Council has published its view of the changes here: Our Auckland.
Timeframe
The proposal has now been considered by some Local Boards who have provided their feedback to Council. All Local Boards and Iwi may provide feedback to Council. On 24 September, Council will consider a further Draft Plan, taking into account that feedback, and decide whether to proceed with a Proposed Plan to replace Plan Change 78. If it does, it must notify the Minister by 10 October who will direct it to use a streamlined planning process. That process may allow for public submissions and hearings before an independent hearings panel.
If there is a submission process the Character Coalition will be lodging a submission and supporting our member groups to prepare their own submissions.
Character Coalition believes this complete transformation is being forced upon Aucklanders under a completely unnecessary and unrealistic timeframe.
Image: Auckland Council, published in “Our Auckland”, 21 August
Auckland Deserves Better
With bi-partisan support, and little allowance for submissions, the Government passed the Resource Management (Housing) Amendment Act in December 2021. This will see three dwellings of three-storey development on all residential land throughout Auckland, except on properties Auckland Council say are covered by a “qualifying matter.” This may include areas already protected in the Unitary Plan because of their special character.
Even though Auckland Council, with significant public input, had already defined Special Character Areas in the Unitary Plan in 2016, and despite record intensification already exceeding expectations, the Act required Council to review these areas. With no legal requirement to do so, Council now proposes that up to a third of homes in Special Character Areas will no longer qualify. This will result in their destruction.
Without Aucklanders take action, developers would inevitably build in these areas to the maximum height and bulk with bare minimum design standards. There is no incentive or requirement to do otherwise. The intrinsic qualities of these urban environments and collective actions of generations of Aucklanders, would be lost forever.
Character Coalition, representing more than 60 Auckland organisations is making the most robust expert case possible and participating fully in the planning process. We’re working with lawyers, architects, planners and resource consent professionals to defend Auckland from this devastating new law.
However, the planning process continues to go nowhere. The PC78 process has now been going two years with nothing to show for it. It is time-consuming and expensive for everyone: citizens, community groups, businesses and Council. Council says it is holding discussions with the Ministry for the Environment asking for legislative change to allow it to withdraw at least part of the Plan Change.
Our position remains that PC78 is quite unnecessary given that our Unitary Plan already provides more than enough capacity for housing intensification in Auckland, in places which are well-served by public transport and infrastructure. It is time that the ill-conceived Plan Change 78 was put out of its misery and withdrawn altogether.