High-density housing plan under fire

By BERNARD ORSMAN

Opposition is growing to plans by the Auckland City Council and Housing New Zealand to change the rules for high-density housing in leafy suburban areas.

Without consulting the public, council planners have agreed to an appeal by Housing NZ for high-density units on smaller sites.

A 10-month public consultation process came up with a 1ha minimum area of suburban land for three-, four- and five-storey housing. But that has been overturned in private talks between senior council planners and Housing NZ. The new zone is called residential 8.

"I think the whole process stinks, excluding people who have participated all the way through the discussions," said Kim Stone, of the St Heliers Community Committee.

The Panmure Community Action Group has joined the St Heliers group, the Auckland Housing Lobby and the Remuera Community Committee to express concerns.

Panmure spokesman Keith Sharp said the group was concerned about the recommendation to lower the site-size threshold from 1ha to 9000sq m and to allow smaller, non-complying sites facing each other across roads or public open space to be lumped together into a single complying block.

"There are clear dangers in allowing a large landowner like Housing New Zealand to cobble together blocks of land in this way and present them as one complete site," he said.

"This may have serious implications for private landowners bordering HNZ sites they had previously assumed to be too small for residential 8 zoning."

Mr Stone said the St Heliers group was concerned that the recommended changes gave Housing NZ and developers too much discretion and a loophole to exploit.

"The move to zone any parcel of land residential 8 is being written into the plan."

A Housing NZ spokeswoman said the corporation was seeking more flexibility for future developments but did not have any area identified for residential 8 zoning beyond its present Talbot Park redevelopment at Glen Innes.

Combining sites into one complying block would allow for well-integrated urban design, she said.

"Any residential 8 zone requires development to adhere to strict guidelines relating to building design, public safety and infrastructure, such as roads and drainage. To apply residential 8 zone to an area, it must first go through the council's public zoning change process."

Senior council planners have retained the 1ha minimum area of suburban land for multi-storey housing but recommended amending the plan change "to consider" smaller parcels of land that meet the zone requirements.

The chairwoman of the council's planning and regulatory committee, Juliet Yates, has not returned calls over the past two days to say whether she supports the planners' recommended changes.

Residential 8

* A new zone in Auckland City for high-density housing.

* Allows developments of up to three storeys in residential areas, up to four storeys near town centres and up to five storeys within 2km of central business district.

* Contains urban design guidelines such as a minimum floor area of 40sq m.

* The first area rezoned residential 8 is Housing New Zealand's 3.7ha Talbot Park site in Glen Innes.

* Approved by the council last August.

* Tell us what you think of the proposed zoning changes. Email the Herald News Desk or fax: (09) 373.6421.