Crosby's crusade

Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby agreed with some of the proposed changes but told the <i>Bay of Plenty Times</i> MPs were ignorant when it came to how communities worked. Photo / George Novak

A fed-up Mayor Stuart Crosby will "defend the city" against proposed law changes he fears will stifle development, increase rates, and put facilities such as libraries and pools at risk.

He will travel to Auckland on March 7 and appear before a select committee where he plans to hammer home Tauranga City Council's strong objection to proposed housing development legislation.

Housing Minister Nick Smith's amendment bill to the Local Government Act was created to make housing more affordable. It will change how councils can spend developer contributions and what fees they can charge.

The legislation limits what councils can charge in respect of commercial and industrial developments and means developers will no longer pay for some or all of the cost of "nice to haves" - such as community and aquatic centres, and parks for developments that do not involve residential housing.

Mr Crosby agreed with some of the proposed changes but told the Bay of Plenty Times MPs were ignorant when it came to how communities worked and it was "crude politics" to think the bill would create affordable housing.

"It won't. It will put rates up, put our city debt up and create an uncertain economic environment in Tauranga, which goes against everything they think they will achieve".

The mayor will get 10 minutes before the Local Government and Environment Select Committee to push for the bill to be redrafted, so ratepayers were not lumped with a debt of about $17 million for the ASB Arena, Baywave and Mount Greens Complex - projects currently partially covered by development contributions.

The bill would limit what councils could charge for, leaving ratepayers to cover the cost of things such as parks, pools and community centres in the future and the other major issue was proposed appeal rights for developers, he said.

"The risk of having so many stages of appeal is uncertainty, both for councils and developers," Mr Crosby said.

"Constant appeal means constant change which is unsustainable for council to invest long and developers rely on that certainty."

Associate Local Government Minister Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga said the vague definition of community infrastructure had led to some councils charging developers for unneeded infrastructure or "nice to haves".

The proposed changes would limit that in the future by ensuring the community paid for community infrastructure.

When asked about lumping Tauranga ratepayers with the $17.4 million shortfall, Mr Lotu-Iiga said the cost would be spread over a number of years resulting in a 1 per cent rates hike.

The details

*Development contributions are a developer levy which councils can use to pay for infrastructure needed because of growth.
*Councils can use them to fund growth-related capital expenditure but that could change.
*Contributions are forecast to be the council's second-most important revenue in the next decade.
*$14 million is expected to be collected this financial year. The amount is forecast to grow to more than $20 million per year.