Tag: Unitary Plan

Unitary Plan Updates 3.2.2

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From Friday to Monday

And Advancing Auckland from the 1950’s to the 1970’s

 

Friday was more tame day at the Unitary Plan proceedings with the day wrapping up at around 3pm. Unfortunately owing to the Residential Provisions being dragged out earlier, the proceedings are forced into the two reserve days (as mentioned in the Unitary Plan Updates – Day 3.1 post.

I am not going to do Councillors’ favourite trick and rehash everything from Friday. You can see the snippets of the day’s proceedings over at my Twitter page – @BenRoss_AKL and most of the amendments on my Talking Auckland Facebook page.

New Zealand Herald reporter Bernard Orsman finally did something right and actually got two good descriptions up of Friday’s proceedings. Again to save me doing a rehash and owing to the fact Orsman did it so well, check his two articles out by clicking on the respective links below

The resolutions that were moved on Friday were the:

  • Public Open Space and Recreation
  • Business Zones (which includes the Centres (Height in Centres is dealt with on Monday)
  • City Centre (including Port of Auckland)
  • Social Infrastructure
  • Physical Infrastructure

While Orsman most of the above, two points were missed that caused a bit of noise and debate during those proceedings. One point was about Colin Maiden Park which is owned by the University of Auckland, the other was about Councillor Cameron Brewer’s Parking Minimums with the Mixed Housing Zone.

 

Colin Maiden Park

With the University of Auckland looking at moving from its Tamaki site to the Newmarket Site (old Lion Brewery site), there is debate about Colin Maiden Park which it owns. Under the Unitary Plan the site is zoned I believe Terrace Housing/Apartment. This means if the University of Auckland as the legal land holder of Colin Maiden Park (home to sports grounds including netball courts) could redevelop the land into Terraced Housing and or low-rise apartments.

Orakei Local Board nervous of this asked Council on Friday to rezone Colin Maiden Park into the Public Open Space and Recreation Zone – so that the park can stay as is once the University shifts.

Problem? Council can not do that (zone Public Open Space/Recreation) on privately held land without the agreement from that landholder. Effectively and essentially Auckland Council would have to seek agreement from the University of Auckland to zone Colin Maiden Park as open space – which means most likely a buy out.

Planner Penny Perrit outlined a landmark Environment Court Case between the old and now defunct Auckland City Council and the Dilworth Trust where that Council tried to put a open space zone over the Trust’s privately held land. A Court battle ensured and ruled that Council could not do that under the Resource Management Act 1991. The site is now home to the Dilworth Primary School.

So this is the issue Auckland Council and the Orakei Local Board would run into with Colin Maiden Park. Unless the University of Auckland agrees – and that will be most likely through a sell out, there will be no Open Space zone on Colin Maiden Park. Whichever way you see this – this is just reality.

 

Councillor Brewer’s Parking Minimums

Councillor Brewer under the Physical Infrastructure section had moved the following resolution:

Brewer/Stewart: “That in the Townhouse And Apartment Building Zone, there be a minimum parking requirement of at least one car-park per dwelling of two or more bedrooms, and in both the Mixed Housing Urban and Suburban zones there be a minimum of one park for studios and one bedrooms as is proposed, and at least two car-parks as a minimum for any new dwelling two bedrooms or more (not three bedrooms as is proposed) to help mitigate increasing car numbers and on-street parking problems .”

It was defeated 6-14 by the Auckland Plan Committee – so a Super Majority (over 67%).

When this amendment was being debated I literally was flooding Twitter with the happenings of the debate as well as my own thoughts. Unlike Councillor Brewer who does not quite no what Neo Liberalism means (as he fesses to be one), I do know what Social Liberalism is and will adhere to it on my beliefs – especially around planning and the economy.

In defeating Councillor Brewer’s Parking Minimum amendment by a Super Majority Level what had happened was that Auckland had taken another step advancing from the 1950s to the 1970’s (I did mean 21st Century but as someone pointed out on Twitter, the 1970s was more apt given the circumstances on Friday, and also how far Auckland has to go to reach the 21st Century)

What I might do is an expose on my planning values that are Social Liberal and how it influences my thoughts around the Unitary Plan.

For the moment though I have some light reading from my opposite number in the USA:

Monday

Monday the Auckland Plan Committee looks at; Heritage (another potential dragger like the Residential provisions), ‘Heights in Centres’ and the Rural Urban Boundary. I won’t be present at Council tomorrow as I will be knuckling down on a project for the next couple of weeks. However I will keep tabs on the All About Auckland video feed and post any major happenings on Twitter when they happen.

September 5 draws close though folks as the Governing Body will decide whether to send the Unitary Plan for formal Notification or not.

 

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Unitary Plan Updates 3.2.1

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Will Get the Update from My Perspective Tonight

 

Owing to the absolute stunner of a day outside, I will get my commentary up on Day 3’s proceeding of the Unitary Plan tonight after sun-down. The commentary will look at the resolutions passed, Councillor Brewer’s defeat (allowing the path to be laid for Auckland advancing from the 1950s to the 1970s as a result), and the apparent hypocrisy of National Party supporters/members in regards to the Unitary Plan.

But for now it is time to enjoy the sun (and tend to the garden ready for Spring).

 

Oh for those who have nothing better to do this weekend, here are the tracked changes to the Unitary Plan: http://www.scribd.com/doc/163821981/APC-The-Rural-Urban-Boundary

 

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Unitary Plan Updates – Day 3.1

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An Update from Auckland Council

 

From Auckland Council on the last three days of Unitary Plan proceedings

Council progresses towards Proposed Unitary Plan 

Councillors and local board chairs have wrapped up the first three days of decisions on changes to the draft Unitary Plan. 

Key parts of the plan, including residential zones, affordable housing, business zones, parking, the Port and the City Centre were covered at the meetings. Changes were discussed for each topic and the majority of issues resolved. 

Residential zones were the major focus of the discussions. Decisions were reached on all of the residential changes except for one proposal regarding greater flexibility for density on sites larger than 2,500 sqm in the Mixed Housing Suburban Zone, which will be revisited next week. 

Auckland Plan Committee Chair, Penny Hulse says “We have had three days of robust debate, discussions and decision-making. The involvement of the local board chairs has been extremely valuable in these discussions and I am pleased with the progress we’ve made.” 

Some of the key changes decided at the Auckland Plan Committee meetings included: 

  • Further reclamation for the Port to be a non-complying activity and a stage 2 study to be undertaken
  • Require all residential development of 15 or more dwellings to include at least 10% of dwellings as retained affordable housing
  • On 1200 sqm (or more) sites in the Mixed Housing Suburban Zone, a maximum of one dwelling for every 200 sqm
  • Residential developments of five or more houses will require a six star Homestar energy rating
  • Primary and secondary schools will now have a special purpose school zone

 

Additional Auckland Plan Committee meetings will continue next week to discuss the remaining issues on the agenda.

—Ends—

 

Due to the prolonged debate over the Residential Provisions thanks to the now defeated Councillor Hartley/2040 Auckland amendments to the Mixed Housing Zone, we have an extra two days of Unitary Plan proceedings. They are as followed (subject to any other possible updates:

Monday 2 September

The proposed issues for discussion are as follows:

  • Historic Heritage and Special Character
  • Zoning
  • Heights in Centres
  • New Growth
  • Rural

Thursday 5 September:

The Auckland Plan Committee meeting is likely to continue into Thursday 5 September. All remaining issues will be discussed.

 

I will not be at either of those proceedings at this point and time. However, where possible I will keep an eye via the All About Auckland video feed as I did yesterday.

My own commentary on Day Three’s proceedings will be posted tomorrow.

 

 

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Unitary Plan Updates – Day 1

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Long and Only One Actual Decision Made

 

If I was to give a one line summary of Day One of the Unitary Plan proceedings it would be this:

Elect Councillors who know how to give 30 second speeches. Anything beyond that is always irrelevant dribble stuck on a Merry-Go-Round with the Emergency Stop Button busted.

Okay a bit more than a single line but the sums up yesterday after only one major resolution (out of a few pages worth (which I will stick up in a moment)) was passed and we have only two days left.

I will not be present at Day Two of the Unitary Plan proceedings today. I will be on TotaRim business in Manukau today advancing the Manukau Super Metropolitan Centre concept with potential stakeholders. Tomorrow I might be back at Town Hall depending on today’s outcomes both in Manukau and at Town Hall. However, if Councillors are that damned slow in getting through the recommendations I might consider Friday a write off entirely and go do something else.

 

So what did we get out of Day One? Well two three things.

Starting with Councillor Brewer’s shameless motion to effectively kill off the three day proceedings and stall it until November 30. This was his motion which he tried to get through but failed on a vote of 6-15 (and thankfully):

My amendment by 15 votes to 6:

 

Brewer/Fletcher: “That the Auckland Plan Committee delays its decision until November to approve the notification of an amended  draft of the Auckland Unitary Plan to allow the local body elections to conclude, and to give the newly publicly mandated second term council the opportunity to review and seek advice, and to allow the wider community and stakeholders more time and input on the latest revised changes and significant new information still emerging.”

 

The 6 that voted for this were: Brewer, Fletcher, Lee, Stewart, Quax and one other (but can’t be seriously bothered digging that up).

 

Once that shameless motion was defeated soundly the Committee moved onto Residential provisions in the Unitary Plan – which we are still on as I write this very post today.

Basically what the Councillors are trying to do is get through all these recommendations (embedded below) so that the Unitary Plan can be decided on September Five whether to be notified or not.

These are the recommendations the Auckland Plan Committee are trying to get through:

 

The only recommendations that passed yesterday were the following:

  • A
  • B
  • L – which was amended to allow 10% “affordable” housing in a Greenfield development area – not the original 7%. It is to note that the amendment only passed on a vote of 11-9

 

For more “fast” updates check my Taking Auckland Facebook page or @BenRoss_AKL Twitter link. There is really no point doing a 5000 word post on giving the breakdown of yesterday’s proceedings believe me. Not unless you want to share my utter pain of being stuck on a Merry-Go-Round stuck on fast with the emergency button busted…

 

In saying this with Day Two, I will be keeping tabs on the live video feed and will Tweet happenings as they happen – if they happen today. The live feed can be found here http://www.allaboutauckland.com/

 

Oh one thing seeming we are dealing with the Residential provisions in the Unitary Plan. I have a copy of all of Councillor Ann Hartley’s amendments to these residential provisions in the Unitary Plan. Councillor Hartly seems to have done a total U-Turn on her stances – owing most likely to being “influenced” by lobby groups possibly like Auckland 2040. I will get the amendments up today on Scribd for your viewing ASAP.

 

More Unitary Plan Updates and documents will be posted later today and tomorrow. However Manukau business must be attended to.

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

 

 

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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

 

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