Proposed Plan Change 26 – Residential Zone Intensification

Session 1 - IPI Joint High Level Issues Hearing

You can view Session 1 Recordings and Evidence here

Session 2 - IPI Council Hearing

You can view Session 2 Recordings and Evidence here

What is Plan Change 26?

On 20 December 2021, the Amendment Act was passed into law. NO consultation occurred with councils in the drafting of the Bill, only a submission process to the select committee was provided. before this happened. The Amendment Act aims to increase and accelerate urban housing supply in New Zealand.

The intent is to speed up implementation of the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) and enable more medium density homes through an Intensification Planning Instrument (IPI) and an Intensification Streamlined Planning Process (ISPP). We have called our IPI Plan Change 26 ‘Residential Zone Intensification’.

You can read more about The Amendment Act here.

An amendment to the Resource Management Act 1991 requires councils to increase housing density in the residentially zoned areas of Cambridge, Kihikihi and Te Awamutu. As well the Council is required to relax policies that would normally protect the urban character and amenity in the district.

Waipā District Council’s District Plan needs to change significantly to accommodate the legislation, similar to other councils specified in the Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021 (the Amendment Act) as Tier 1 growth councils.

The legislation requires Council to allow, landowners on most sites to extend existing buildings or build up to three houses with up to three stories without land use consent subject to a maximum site coverage, heights and setbacks. The changes also introduce no minimum lot sizes for associated subdivisions.

What we’re doing?

An internal Issues and Options report on the Amendment Act identified three possibilities for the Council to implement the compulsory legislative changes. All councillors were united in their fight against ‘uncontrolled urban intensification’ and voted for option three at a council meeting on 5 April 2022.

Option three provided the potential for the Council to maintain some control over where mandatory intensification occurs within residential zones.

Summary of option three:

• Attempts to leverage ‘qualifying matters’ to potentially make parts of residential zones of Cambridge, Kihikihi and Te Awamutu and subject to modified provision of the Medium Density Residential Standards.
• Reviews financial contributions as a mechanism for developers paying for any resulting infrastructure upgrades.
• Identifies the impact of increased residential intensification on our existing infrastructure and the Waikato and Waipā Rivers and their catchments.
• Inserts the mandatory Medium Density Residential Standards into the district plan.

Council has developed Proposed Plan Change 26 to implement the mandatory changes required. Proposed Plan Change 26 proposes to:

• Enable up to three, three-story residential units to be built in residential zones in Te Awamutu, Kihikihi and Cambridge without the need to obtain resource consent, if all the standards are met, and there are no qualifying matters; and
• Modify the Medium Density Residential Standards where qualifying matters have been identified as applying, such as cultural and heritage sites, Te Ture Whaimana o Te Awa o Waikato; and
• Update the character cluster overlays to include new properties in Cambridge, Kihikihi and Te Awamutu;
• Update the financial contribution provisions in the district plan; and
• Include consequential amendments.

FAQs

Follow this link to a list of frequently asked questions about this plan change

A list of frequently asked questions are here

Proposed Plan Change 26

Public Notice to Notify - 19 August 2022
Information Brochure

Proposed Plan Change and Section 32 Report
Appendix 1 - Feedback received from Stakeholders
Appendix 2 - Assessment of Existing Qualifying Matters
Appendix 3 - Assessment of New Qualifying Matters
Appendix 4 - Character Area Review for Waipa District Council
Appendix 5 - Residential Modelling Medium Density Residential Standards
Appendix 6 - Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Assessment
Appendix 7 - Open Space Green Infrastructure Network
Appendix 8 - Summary Synthesis Report Infrastructure Report
Appendix 9 - Stormwater Infrastructure Assessment

Please note: all proposed Planning Maps are within Proposed Plan Change 26 (link below) and have not been updated on the main District Plan page or on Maps Online. A number of planning maps have proposed amendments, but for your convenience, we have attached the 2 new proposed maps which show the extent of the qualifying matters for Cambridge (map 56) and Kihikihi and Te Awamutu (map 57).

Proposed Planning Map 56 - Qualifying Matters Cambridge
Proposed Planning Map 57 - Qualifying Matter Te Awamutu-Kihikihi