The Rotorua Lakes Council building. Photo / Laura Smith
The Rotorua Lakes Council building. Photo / Laura Smith
A Rotorua councillor has asked for public consultation on housing density standards,citing concerns about the public not previously having had an opportunity to provide feedback on the issue.
Councillor Robert Lee filed a notice of motion at a council meeting on Wednesday asking for public consultation on a decision that would allow people to build up to three units and buildings three storeys high on most urban residential sites in Rotorua.
The basis of his request was that the previous council request to Government that Rotorua be classed as a tier-one council in the medium-density residential standards was made in a non-public setting. The motion was supported by councillors Don Paterson and Conan O’Brien.
The standards meant people would be able to build up to three units and buildings three storeys high on most residential sites in Rotorua’s urban environment without the need for a land use resource consent.
District development deputy chief executive Jean-Paul Gaston responded that he had concerns with some of the points included in Lee’s notice of motion.
This included that Lee did not list all other 14 tier-one local authorities and had instead listed five main cities.
Gaston said it was not the council’s decision to consult on the matter, but central government’s. The previous council had been concerned that strict building rules were a barrier to development.
The request to the Government to be classed as a tier-one council was based on the need for housing.
“That has been telegraphed and communicated to our community through all of the engagement.”
This had also occurred while preparing for Plan Change 9, he said. The plan change meant the density standards could come into effect and underpinned that. One hundred submissions were received and hearings would be held in August.
Gaston said there were also significant risks in trying to consult on the standards because, ultimately, the Government was the decision-maker.
If the decision on median standards was reversed, it would mean Plan Change 9 would fail to meet the intensification standards required - and at a cost of more than $1 million and two years of work.
Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell said the consequences of proceeding with Lee’s request had been “quite clearly” outlined.
The standards came into effect in August last year, and Tapsell said there had been few buildings that did not fit within existing guidelines.
Councillor Rawiri Waru believed revising previous council decisions could open a can of worms.
“There’s been a whole lot of decisions in the past that have been probably, in the view of many in the community, not tika [right],” Waru said.
Councillor Fisher Wang agreed.
“Where do we stop with that? Do we go back 20 years to a decision about our infrastructure that’s probably caused us a lot of grief? Where does it stop?”
He said there should be trust in staff who were there as experts to inform decision-making.
City growth was also discussed during an earlier discussion on the draft Future Development Strategy (FDS), and elected members agreed for it to go out for community consultation at the beginning of next month.
Councillor Robert Lee filed a notice of motion at the Wednesday meeting. Photo / Laura Smith
After the meeting, Lee said he was disappointed the motion did not pass. There were about 20 members of the public at the meeting, and he said they were “people who are deeply concerned about Rotorua’s future”.
He felt there was a good debate at the meeting and said he fully respected his colleagues’ democratic right to vote as they saw fit.
“I think it’s a pretty special group of elected members that can have such a robust debate, disagree on some things and then share a cuppa together afterwards.”
He hoped the public would find another way to learn about the standards and would take the opportunity to submit on the FDS.
