Coastal erosion is already an issue at One Tree Point. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Coastal erosion is already an issue at One Tree Point. Photo / Michael Cunningham
A Northland community leader is urging property owners to pay close attention as the Whangārei District Council starts updating its District Plan rules to manage risk in newly-mapped coastal hazard zones.
On March 30, the district council will send 35,000 letters to property owners, iwi, hapū and others as part of early informal updates regarding half a dozen District Plan components. Included are potential new controls to manage risk across new Northland Regional Council (NRC) coastal inundation and flood hazard zones.
The hazard zones' consideration is among key 10-year updates for the District Plan, affecting how people can develop and use their land. The others are for areas where land stability is of concern, areas with the risk of mining subsidence, managing hazardous substances and requirements for the provision of esplanade areas during development.
Waikaraka - coastal inundation areas are shown in green, coastal erosion hazard in coloured lines and flooding hazard lines in blue. Photo / NRC
Ruawai farmer and drainage scheme chair Ian Beattie said the new maps and district council controls brought in to manage them had the potential for a major impact.
A Kaipara District Council/community Raupo Drainage committee meeting last year allowed Ruawai to be the first Northland community to publicly see these new region-wide maps for their local area.
Beattie chairs the committee that helms Ruawai's $14m flood protection and drainage network across 8700ha.
Beattie said his Whangārei comments equally applied to Kaipara and Far North property owners with the updating of their local councils' similar District Plans, which will include addressing risk in new NRC coastal and flood hazard zones in their area.
Future coastal erosion issues under different sea level rises identified for One Tree Point in new coastal hazard mapping. Photo / Michael Cunningham
He said the lives of about a thousand people in his small Ruawai community may be affected by the new coastal inundation and flooding hazard maps. The changes potentially compounded the economic impacts of a new housing development being prohibited locally – a potential economic catastrophe.
For his local area, the mapping had the potential to add to recent local limitations prohibiting new development with no further investment on the Ruawai flats.
Beattie said Whangārei property owners should take a pragmatic approach and make sure to speak up about new mapping and the controls proposed.
WDC general manager planning and development Dominic Kula said his council's approach to Whangārei coastal and flooding hazard zone management and to the four other Plan components being updated was to avoid risk as much as possible.
"The draft provisions propose a risk-based approach to new subdivisions, new buildings and sensitive activities (houses, childcare, retirement facilities, schools). This means in areas of high risk the council is proposing consent will be required to ensure the risk to people and property can be considered and is avoided as much as possible," Kula said.
Hazard mapping shows flooding hazard zones and some coastal inundation for Beach Rd Onerahi. Photo / NRC
The March 30 WDC letters would encourage people to check out which of the new plan change components applied to their properties. WDC would have a portal on its website timed for when the letters went out so people could check these.
"Before we progress these draft plan changes further, and long before any formal Resource Management Act (RMA) process involving submissions and hearings, we are keen to get early feedback... on whether the suggested rules are easy to understand and provide the right balance for managing risk," Kula said.
He said individual property owners would be affected differently, depending on which of the updating they were affected by.
The mailout would provide high-level information about each draft change and links to maps and other relevant documents. People were encouraged to check the maps when the time came, to see which of the draft plan changes applied to their land.
Formal public consultation and submissions would come further down the track, Kula said.
The new coastal inundation hazard mapping has brought a 60 per cent increase in the number of land parcels mapped along Northland's 1700 kilometre coastline with 20,000 now mapped.
Coastal erosion hazard mapping has also expanded. There are now 41 Northland sites mapped, up from 30 previously. Roughly 2500 land parcels are mapped, 500 more than previously.
The new NRC hazard maps can be accessed via their website.
WDC's informal District Plan change feedback ends on May 6.
