Big changes to what was originally proposed

Well I knew there were calls to liberalise the rules in the Residential Zones of the Unitary Plan to assist with supply thus housing affordability. I just never knew Council would put forward a proposal for the Hearings next month that would go quite that far and even arguably beyond it some more.

What I am talking about is the density, height and lot (section) size rules that can bung up residential developments that might be needed to keep house prices in line. When you have strict density controls, large minimum lot sizes and low height restrictions you end up getting what we have now in little form of housing choice coupled with high house prices.

At the bottom of the post is the Proposed Changes that will head to the Unitary Plan Hearings Panel next month for consideration.

In the duration submitters like myself can form our Primary Evidence on whether we support, oppose and/or what amendments we might put forward.

Here are the extracts to the density, lot size and height rules proposed for the Unitary Plan Residential Zones

3. Land use controls

3.1 Maximum density

1. The number of dwellings on a site must not exceed the limits specified below:

Table 1:

Zone	Dwellings
Large Lot	One dwelling per site
Rural and coastal settlements	One dwelling per site 4000m² net site area
Single House	One dwelling per site
Mixed Housing Suburban	One dwelling per 400 200m² net site area, or No density limits apply where the site is greater than 1000m2 One dwelling per 300m² net site area where the requirements of clause 3.1.2 below are met, or One dwelling per 200m2 net site area where the requirements of clause 3.1.5 below are met
Mixed Housing Urban	No density limits apply One dwelling per 300m² net site area, or One dwelling per 250m² net site area where the requirements of clause 3.1.3 below are met, or No density limits apply where four or more dwellings are proposed and the requirements of clause 3.1.6 below are met
Terrace Housing and Apartment Buildings zone	No density limits apply

Activity tables

 

Table 1: Activity status of land use activities

The following table specifies the activity status of land use activities in the residential zones.

Activity	Large Lot zone	Rural and Coastal Settlement zone	Single House zone	Mixed Housing Suburban zone	Mixed Housing Urban zone	Terrace Housing and Apartment Buildings zone
Residential
Activities not provided for	NC	NC	NC	NC	NC	NC
Camping grounds	NC D	D	NC D	NC		NC
Dwellings	P	P	P	P up to 3 2 dwellings per site	P up to 3 2 dwellings per site	P One up to 2 dwellings on a per site
				RD 4or more dwellings per site	RD 4or more dwellings per site	D 2 to 4 dwellings per site RD 5 3 or more dwellings per site

• P = Permitted Activity
• C = Controlled Activity
• RD = Restricted Discretionary Activity
• D = Discretionary Activity
• NC = Complying
• Prohibited

Height:

• Single House Zone: Two Storeys
• Mixed Housing Suburban: Two Storeys
• Mixed Housing Urban: Three Storeys
• Terraced Housing and Apartments: Generally 5 storeys although the Additional Height Overlay Control can push it to 6 or 7 storeys

It will be interesting to see what comes across from the Primary Evidence of submitters like Auckland 2040 although they did push for density controls to be removed in place for better urban design and bulk control parameters.

For me the above changes look good although the Mixed Housing Urban Zone and Terraced Housing and Apartment Zone still need work to the point of needing zone splitting.

More on this when I have my Primary Evidence drawn up next week.

Proposed Changes to the Residential Zones of the Unitary Plan