Category: Unitary Plan

Final Meeting before the Super 3-Day Run

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Elected members meet for final Unitary Plan workshop

 

From Council

The Auckland Plan Committee today met for the final draft Unitary Plan workshop before decisions are made later this week. 

A legal overview and the draft Section 32 analysis, which is an evaluation of the process undertaken during the development of the plan, were discussed by councillors and local board chairs. 

Auckland Plan Committee Chair Penny Hulse says “Today was important in order to give elected members confidence that the plan has been tested and evaluated from a legal perspective and in accordance with the RMA.” 

Elected members were also taken through the process that follows notification including the submissions phase, engagement with Aucklanders on the notified plan, and information that will be provided to the public to explain the changes and assist with submissions support. 

The Auckland Plan Committee will start making decisions on changes to the draft Unitary Plan on Wednesday this week.

—Ends—

 

Still waiting on those 7000 pages of Tracked Changes before Wednesday so I can at least follow line by line what the Councillors are going through when making decisions on the Unitary Plan.

Again; I will be there all three days reporting live from Town Hall as the Council grinds its way through the formal decisions that will set the draft Unitary Plan ready for September 5 – and arguably formal notification.

 

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Here We Go – The Unitary Plan

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Final Countdown until September 5

 

September 5 is when the Governing Body of Auckland Council will formally decide whether to set a date for formal notification of the Unitary Plan (lead-in time will be four weeks if so) or, have the draft sent back to the Auckland Plan Committee for more refinement.

 

But yes, the final countdown is on with August 28-30 being the three days where the Auckland Plan Committee sets the decisions that will make up the draft Unitary Plan for September 5.

From Auckland Council:

Decisions to be made on Unitary Plan changes 

Next week councillors will make decisions on changes to the draft Auckland Unitary Plan before it is notified for public submissions.

 Changes to the plan are based on approximately 22,000 pieces of feedback received from individuals, businesses, community groups and experts, when the plan was released as a draft for 11 weeks of informal engagement. 

“Councillors together with our local board chairs have attended 22 Unitary Plan workshops in the last eight weeks to discuss issues raised by Aucklanders and to consider where changes were needed,” says Auckland Plan Committee Chair, Penny Hulse. 

“This extensive process has involved many hours of discussions and debate and we have come a long way towards resolving most of the big issues. The Auckland Plan Committee meetings are the next step in the process, where councillors will make formal decisions on the changes and a recommendation on notification.” 

Councillors have received a report outlining all key changes as well as an amended version of the draft Unitary Plan. This information is also now available to the public on Auckland Council’s website as an attachment to the Auckland Plan Committee agenda. 

The Auckland Plan Committee meetings will run from Wednesday to Friday next week (28-30 August).

 

—–ends—-

Of course I will be there all three days reporting live from Town Hall as the Council grinds its way through the formal decisions that will set the draft Unitary Plan ready for September 5 – and arguably formal notification.

The Council website containing the agenda and Section 32 Analysis (required by the Resource Management Act 1991) can be found HERE.

The agenda thus far can be found in the embed at the bottom of this post.

I have also requested a copy of the amended version of the Draft Unitary Plan that the Councillors will be discussing over the three-day period. It is formidable in size but I will see if I can upload it somehow for your viewing too.

The Agenda

 

TALKING AUCKLAND

Talking Auckland: Blog of TotaRim Consultancy Limited

TotaRim Consultancy
Bringing Well Managed Progress to Auckland and The Unitary Plan

Auckland: 2013 – YOUR CITY, YOUR CALL

 

Updates and Coming Ups

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All Go as we march towards September 5

 

Things are “quiet” at the moment as we head towards September 5 – the day when the Governing Body (Council) either: sets a date for formal notification for the Unitary Plan or sends it back to the Auckland Plan Committee for more refinement after the elections (October 12).

Prior to September 5 though we have the final Auckland Plan Committee meetings to be held 28-30 August. These meetings will formally decide what from the 7000 pages of “tracked changes” made to the Unitary Plan goes into the next version of the UP that will be decided for notification. Of course I will be at the Auckland Plan Committee meetings running live commentary as the proceedings happen. Also once I receive a copy of the tracked changes I will see if I can upload it for those who wish to view it.

 

While we wait for all this to occur, feel free to brush up on the latest in the run up to September 5. As we call for level heads as the Councillors make these big decisions, a reminder what is at stake can be seen in these two posts:

 

The Congestion Free Network

Mayor Len Brown has met with representatives from Generation Zero and Auckland Transport Blog to discuss the overall narrative of the Congestion Free Network alternative (to the 2012 Integrated Transport Program). You can read ATB’s report on it here: Len Brown and the Congestion Free Network

Talking Auckland is supportive of this move and will be keeping a close eye on this as preparations are made for the 2015 Integrated Transport Program. Of course I wonder if they should be adding a line to Manukau from the south as the South Link continues to build momentum. The report on the South Link is due around November and I will be keeping tabs with Auckland Transport as time draws nearer.

 

Manukau Super Metropolitan Centre

Work continues to advance on restoring the love in Manukau. TotaRim and stakeholders are working together in preparing to draw up plans to present to Council on both the “theory” and “practical” fronts.

The theory front is getting the Super Metropolitan Centre definition inserted into the Unitary Plan. This is important for two reasons. First reason is that the SMC definition has wider implications to the city and allows Albany to be upgraded to that definition when they are ready to do so. The second reason is that the definition gives weight to the emphasis on social planning as well as physical planning. No point building a grand physical city centre if people identify it negatively now is there.

As for practical, this mean getting an Area Plan drawn up for Manukau and to be executed through the life of the Unitary Plan.

Updates will be posted as they occur with this being the most recent: Continued Advancement with Manukau and Southern Auckland

 

This brings to a close this round of updates. Talking Auckland will post the tracked changes of the Unitary Plan if possible to do so as soon as I receive a copy.

 

 

Unitary Plan – Towards Notification #2

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A Warning to the City

Slowing Down the Unitary Plan Will Come at a Great Cost to Auckland

 

As a part of a two-part mini-series I will be going over the Unitary Plan briefing to the media outlets (including Talking Auckland) that occurred yesterday .

In Part One (last post), Talking Auckland looked at: the Unitary Plan and where it has come thus far. Part One will also look at where next with the Unitary Plan – specifically August 28th to 30th and September 5th.

Part Two (this post) will look at one of the questions I asked in regards to the Unitary Plan: could it have been slowed down. Part Two will also serve a warning against those conservative Council candidates who think slowing the Unitary Plan down is a wise idea. Simply done in the name of a Better and Affordable Auckland, slowing down the Unitary Plan does nothing to achieve that. All it achieves is Central Government intervening – something the conservatives might be holding out for

 

Part Two: Could Have the Unitary Plan Been Slowed Down

 

The simple answer to that is NO! Now as this is meant to be running commentary I think I might need to give a bit more than the two letter simple answer.

I need not remind the City (as the Deputy Mayor has already done so countless times) that the Unitary Plan is different from the District Plans of old. With the District Plans the only time “we” – the City get a look and comment on a District Plan is when it was formally notified. Formal notification means formal submissions and a trip to a hearing – often the Environment Court. YUCK for 99% of the City that are not planners or RMA lawyers.

The Unitary Plan was different. We got given the “draft of the draft” where everyone could give feedback no matter who you were in Auckland. That means for the first time the City got to have a good look at the Unitary Plan and comment back on it. And comment back did Auckland do with 22,700 pieces of feedback, with independent commentary being led by this very blog!

As mentioned in Part One, the Council and Local Boards have since June 1 been going through our feedback and changing the Unitary Plan to reflect what we said. The changes that will be introduced to the Auckland Plan Committee and Local Boards will occur August 28th – although they and the media (including me) will have a copy of the tracked changes on Monday. And from there the formal decisions are set over three days (August 28-30th) with the Governing Body giving its final instructions on September 5.

 

This brings me to my warning to those conservatives who will try to slow down the Unitary Plan.

It was confirmed yesterday by the two Penny’s that there is nothing stopping a new Council after October 12 stalling or even withdrawing notification of the Unitary Plan, taking it apart and redoing it again.

Conservative Councillors and candidates, particularly those running in the Albert-Eden and the Tamaki-Maungakiekie Wards at the moment will try to hold out and see if they can get the numbers after October 12 to stall or withdraw the notification on the Unitary Plan (if the September 5 Governing Body meeting decided that the UP was to be notified – it still might not and order the new Auckland Plan Committee to review aspects again before notification).

If I had no confidence in the Unitary Plan as it is I would rally with the conservatives. However, as I do have confidence in the Deputy Mayor and the Unitary Plan I will be rallying against the conservatives who would stall the Unitary Plan out of interests of a small minority.

Yes, a very small minority in two ward areas that are trying to run conservative candidates in those areas. The other wards that could earn my ire have been more constructive. These Wards not attracting my ire include Orakei and most of the North Shore where Auckland 2040 is doing quite a bit of leg work with the Mixed Housing Zone split (to the benefit of the wider City).

If these conservatives get their way and stall the Unitary Plan this is what will happen. For every day the Unitary Plan is stalled is another day pushed back in the three-year notification process. For every day the notification is delayed is another day that fighting the Housing Affordability and Choice crisis is lost. And another day lost in fighting the Housing Affordability and Choice issues is another day of uncertainty in having the city progressed and us losing our best and brightest who want to stay but can not. I also need not remind the City that the Housing Accord’s Special Housing Areas do not come “online” until the Unitary Plan is notified. So stall the notification and you stall getting more houses and apartments being supplied to a growing city. Oh, and if the Unitary Plan is stalled for too long then the Minister for the Environment will intervene and the City really loses out to Wellington.

That is the risk the city runs if the conservatives get their way and stall the Unitary Plan. So, please, I ask you to be careful in the upcoming elections. If the Unitary Plan is stalled by these conservatives serving a small interest, it will come at a great cost to the city – especially the two areas that can ill afford it the most: The South and the West.

Also those who claim that they were shut out of the Unitary Plan process by being denied speaking rights on the UP over the last two months are dead wrong. As the Deputy Mayor confirmed yesterday and as I also know from experience, speaking rights were denied to those wishing to speaking on the UP during the last couple of months. The reason was uniform and straight forward from the Deputy Mayor on why. If one of us (the city) spoke after the feedback session then all 22,700 others could speak. Now 22,700 time five minutes of speaking plus five minutes of questions if the Councillors keep it brief equals – a three month delay. The Deputy Mayor did further say that speaking would be a duplication of what we said in our feedback. In any case I know two of us that did ask for speaking rights and were refused had a good chat or meeting with the Deputy Mayor (and planners) and both of us came away happy. Also  Auckland 2040 and myself have been busy advance both our causes on the side to positive results thus far – and a Better Auckland.

 

So we wait for the August 28-30th Auckland Plan Committee meetings as they set the decisions for the Unitary Plan, ready for September 5.

 

TALKING AUCKLAND

Talking Auckland: Blog of TotaRim Consultancy Limited

TotaRim Consultancy
Bringing Well Managed Progress to Auckland and The Unitary Plan

Auckland: 2013 – YOUR CITY, YOUR CALL

 

Local Government poster png mode

 

Unitary Plan Briefing

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Quite Heavy

 

I arrived back from the Unitary Plan briefing with the Deputy Mayor and the Unitary Plan Planner – the two Pennys just a little while ago. I am still digesting the information and will have something up tomorrow for your consumption.

The briefing and my subsequent commentary on the Unitary Plan will be split into two parts:

  1. Part One will look at the Unitary Plan and where it has come thus far. Part One will also look at where next with the Unitary Plan – specifically August 28th to 30th and September 5th
  2. Part Two will look at one of the questions I asked in regards to the Unitary Plan; Could it have been slowed down. Part Two will also serve a warning against those conservative Council candidates who think slowing the Unitary Plan down is a wise idea. Simply in the name of a Better and Affordable Auckland, slowing down the Unitary Plan does nothing to achieve that. All it achieves is Central Government intervening – something the conservatives might be holding out for

 

I believe Monday I also get a digital copy at 7000 pages of “tracked changes” applied to the Unitary Plan thus far. Anyone that uses Microsoft Word well enough knows what I mean by “tracked changes.” However, the actual Unitary Plan should be around 1200 pages long at a guess – so you can breathe that bit easier.

 

Right I better knuckle down and get this two-part commentary sorted 😀

 

Some Updates and Coming Ups

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Elections and Unitary Plan Briefings

The Elections 2013

 

And so campaigns get under way with the nominations for Local Government Elections 2013 closed as of Friday 16th August. You can see the full PDF version of who is running for what HERE. The guys over at Generation Zero and Auckland Transport Blog I believe are converting that PDF over into an Excel format chart – why? I have an idea but will let them tell you 😉

I had noted a bit of attention in the last 72 hours in the form of prodding me to run for either Local Board or a Council Ward seat. Some were also asking why I was not running for either position.

I had made a decision during the Unitary Plan feedback process (March 16-May 31) not to run for a Council position but rather focus on TotaRim. TotaRim being my consultancy business that advances #BetterAuckland projects amongst other things.

Council is like a tent and that tent includes the elected representatives, the bureaucracy and the Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs). One decides whether they can make their contribution to Auckland either inside or outside the tent.

I decided for the 2013 elections to stay outside the tent and continue to advance a #BetterAuckland (including #movingauckland and #SuperManukau) . That means I will be around for another three years in continuing the push to achieve this via TotaRim.

This means TotaRim and myself working with willing and cooperative elective representatives of the Centre Left and Centre Right factions of Council. Yes, that can be “interesting” some days, but I must say it has been a good three years. Let’s hope the next three years will be as good too in pushing for a #BetterAuckland. Although TotaRim and myself are bi-partisan in our work, it seems some are still quite partisan in their thinking/politics:

Interesting you say this Ben because there is a rumour I hear that you were helping Palino with Unitary Plan policy in the early stages of his campaign before he had to remove you? What is Hulse and the rest of your friends at Council going to think when they hear this?

The person who said that links back to here http://www.palinoformayor.co.nz/ while the comment came from here http://louisoutlook.wordpress.com/2013/08/15/evaluating-john-palinos-unitary-plan-policy/

Rather interesting comment given that I believe in Free Enterprise and was approached first by Palino. As for being ‘removed’, I did earlier mention willing and cooperative ‘representatives’. I was approached to scope out the task at hand at the request of Palino but no contract was entered upon completion of scoping. It was his choice not to continue business for whatever reason he chooses. I respect his decision to do so – this is the nature of free enterprise.

The following has been stressed by Council more than once with the Unitary Plan and its processes:

From my Facebook update in regards to Slowing Down the Unitary Plan

Only one problem with Centre Right people when they say that – it can not be slowed down any more than what it is. I think they have forgotten three things:
1: Section 32 analysis still needs to happen on the Unitary Plan and the Governmentwill be watching this closely to make sure it is robust. We should get more details on this tomorrow
2: The Central Government actually has a limited time frame on the Unitary Plan before notification actually must occur – a three year process in itself. If we – The Council and Auckland blow that time frame via slowing down the Unitary Plan process then Government will take over and that does no one ANY good
3: “I’ll work to slow down the Unitary Plan and make sure we get it right for Maungakiekie-Tamaki and our future.” A Patch candidate using that language with no focus on the region. As a Ward Councillor you not only have your ward but all other wards as well. You make decisions for the region, the Local Boards look after the local. So be wary of those who are patch focused (usually the Centre Right) as they will re-cause the fragmentation the old Auckland City Council area saw for countless decades. This will come at great expense to the other Wards…

 

Unitary Plan Briefing

Monday there is a briefing on the Unitary Plan thus far and where to next with it. The briefing will: “cover key issues identified in the informal feedback, interim directions and an update on the next steps in the process.”

I will be in attendance at that briefing and will deliver full commentary on Tuesday for your consumption.

As readers would know, August 28-30th is where the Auckland Plan Committee will make final decisions on the Unitary Plan before setting a date when the plan goes for formal notification.

I assume this briefing (to the media) will be an extensive one. Yes, I will be asking questions as well.

 

TALKING AUCKLAND

Talking Auckland: Blog of TotaRim Consultancy Limited

TotaRim Consultancy
Bringing Well Managed Progress to Auckland and The Unitary Plan

Auckland: 2013 – YOUR CITY, YOUR CALL

Unitary Plan Update

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Green Buildings and Quarries

 

Not too much here – most likely because I did not cover these issues in my submission to the Unitary Plan. However, for your reading:

Green buildings and quarries discussed at Unitary Plan workshop

 

Draft Unitary Plan proposals for sustainable design, including green building rules for new residential and commercial developments, were topics covered at yesterday’s Unitary Plan workshop.

Discussions included the proposals for a Homestar six-star rating (or equivalent) for new developments with five or more dwellings, and a GreenStar five-star rating for new office and industrial buildings.

Councillors and local board chairs agreed to consider retaining the six-star rating for homes but reduce the rating for office and commercial buildings to four-star. Council staff were also asked to look at a different approach for certain industrial buildings.

Extensions to quarry zones and quarry transport routes were also covered. The draft Unitary Plan quarry zone provides for regionally significant mineral extraction such as aggregate products for infrastructure projects.

Six regionally significant quarries currently have over 2000 truck movements a day and the Unitary Plan process will consider if controls may be needed.

Ends

 

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