By Nick James of RNZ
Decisions that will determine the future of building in the capital will be made today.
The Wellington City Council will vote on housing issues for the district plan which sets out rules such as building height limits, heritage protections and where housing should be prioritised for the capital.
Here’s what you need to know.
Thursday’s meeting is crunch time for the councillors, who will consider recommendations made by an independent panel on housing intensification.
The decisions made are incredibly consequential, as they will influence housing in the city as it faces challenges with affordability.
The independent panel has been releasing its recommendations for housing in each part of the city since the start of the year.
Some of the panel’s decisions have gone against submissions from government agencies.
That included a decision that the Johnsonville train line was not a rapid transit service, because it was not frequent enough.
Government changes from 2020 in the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) means building heights of at least six storeys are allowed to be built within a walkable catchment of rapid transit stops.
The recommendations would mean there would be no requirement to build buildings of that height around the line.
The panel also disagreed with submissions made by housing provider Kāinga Ora that the District Plan needed to provide significantly more growth than it had recommended.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development also found character housing provisions and reductions to city centre zoning it had recommended did not adequately provide for housing supply.
The plan has been a long time in the making, with public hearings held last year covering more than 35 topics over 36 days.
The council will vote on the recommendations at the environment and infrastructure committee meeting today, kicking off at 9.30am.
The council has three options for the recommendations - it can either approve all of them, approve some of them or reject them all.
Any decision the council rejected will be referred to the RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop, effectively taking the decision out of the council’s hands.
The District Plan is a blueprint for how buildings can be built in Wellington City.
The last District Plan brought into force for the capital was in 2000. Every 10 years it has been reviewed and changes have been made to it, but due to the plan now being significantly out of date, it is time to come up with a new plan that reflects how Wellingtonians want to build in the city.
In recent years the government has also made requirements for the new District Plan that requires it to include the NPS-UD and the Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS).
The NPS-UD requires six-storey buildings to be allowed to be built within a walkable catchment of rapid transit stops - these could be major train lines - and major urban centres, such as the Wellington CBD.
It also requires buildings to maximise the benefits of intensification within the city centre.
The MDRS allows three houses up to three stories on each property in residential areas as a permitted activity in the district plan.
Over the rest of this year through to 2026, the council will work on other parts of the District Plan until it has a fully refreshed new plan for the city.
- RNZ
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