Hamilton proposes key changes to development contributions policy

A change to remissions in the Central Business District (CBD) is proposed as the city council reviews its Development Contributions (DC) Policy. Photo / Terry

Hamilton City Council is providing a further opportunity for feedback on the city's development contributions (DC) policy update through an open briefing with councillors.

People can schedule a time slot to talk about their views between 9am and 1pm on Thursday, May 9 and receive questions from councillors on the proposals.

All submitters who have provided contact details were to be offered the opportunity after consultation closed on Monday.
City growth general manager Jen Baird says while formal hearings are not required for the policy update, it's good to provide further opportunities for the development community and other interested parties to speak with the council.

"The council has a number of decisions to make as we continue to build on Hamilton's strong growth, and we believe it's helpful to that process for submitters, if they wish, to speak directly with councillors at this briefing," Ms Baird says.

"Hamilton's growth brings economic, social and cultural benefits to our city. People want to live, play and do business here but we need to make sure we have quality growth and we need to make sure it's managed well.

"Supporting growth comes at a cost, whether it's upgrading existing water or wastewater pipes or building new roads and parks.

Our DC policy allows the council to recover a fair and equitable part of these costs from developers, costs which otherwise would largely fall to ratepayers," Ms Baird says.

The council is proposing several key changes to the existing DC policy.

These include introducing a capped charge for DCs for industrial, commercial and retail development in Rotokauri, adding some further capital projects with a growth component into the calculations for DCs, reviewing estimated costs from the last financial year (replacing them with actual costs where these are known), and changing some definitions in the policy.

A change to DC remissions in the central business district is also proposed.

A full CBD remission was first introduced in the 2013/2014 DC policy.

Through the 2018-28 10-Year Plan the council decided to phase out this remission across three years.

This meant a 66 per cent remission in the current 2018/19 policy, reducing to 33 per cent in 2020/21, and removed altogether from July 1, 2021.

The council has resolved to extend the 66 per cent CBD remission from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2021, when the remission is removed completely.

The decision means developers would pay one-third of DC costs in the CBD for the next two years and full DCs after that.

Consultation information and the proposed policy is available from Hamilton City Libraries, the council's Municipal Building or at www.hamilton.govt.nz/haveyoursay.