The Black Ferns women's sevens side has struck gold in Paris, and an autopsy is under way on the remains of who police believe is Yanfei Bao. Video / NZ Herald / Getty
Hauraki District Council has opposed a Government proposal to allow construction of “granny flats” as a permitted activity not requiring resource consent under the Resource Management Act (RMA).
A draft submission to the Government has been prepared and will be presented to the council at a scheduled meeting today.
In the submission, council senior project planner Leigh Robcke said the building consent regime should continue to apply to the building and siting of granny flats.
“There are some short-term costs, and insignificant time delays, but these costs are far outweighed by long-term benefits.”
While it was acknowledged there were short-term costs and insignificant time delays associated with obtaining building consents, it was noted that without the expertise and rigour brought through the building consent process, there could be significant longer-term costs that may not necessarily be borne by the original builder or occupier of the granny flat.
The short-term costs of obtaining a building consent (between $2000 and $5000) should be seen within the context of longer-term benefits and ultimately, the expected life of the dwelling (50 to 100 years), Robcke said in the submission.
If it was decided that no building consent was required from the relevant local authority (in addition to no resource consent being required), it would be “essential” that some sort of Project Information Memorandum (PIM) document was applied for, and received, from the local council, to alert the landowner to the presence/absence of council services, easements or possible hazards.
The PIM would also enable the council to record the location of the granny flat to enable the appropriate user charges to be levied.
The Government has proposed a National Environmental Standard, a document under the RMA, which would say that “minor residential units” are a permitted activity, meaning they would no longer require resource consent.
The flats would need to comply with “permitted standards” such as maximum building coverage and minimum permeable surface requirements, which will be needed to manage stormwater runoff and flooding risks.
New Zealand First leader Winton Peters has said the "granny flat" rule changes would make it more affordable for families to live the way that suits them best. A pledge to make it easier to build “granny flats” was part of the New Zealand First-National coalition deal. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The discussion document includes a range of options for requiring a setback, which is the amount of space between the flat and the boundary. One of the options is requiring no minimum setback, maximising the space someone could potentially build on.
Robcke, in a report to the council, said there were numerous socio-economic statistics available that showed Hauraki District was no different to many other parts of New Zealand in that it was experiencing a housing affordability crisis.
The council had previously acknowledged the issue and in 2019 introduced Proposed Plan Change 1 to the Hauraki District Plan which, among other things, introduced provisions for additional dwellings and reduced minimum lot sizes for subdivision in the residential zones of Waihī, Paeroa and Whiritoa, opening the door to additional infill housing, as well as provisions for minor dwelling units in the residential zones of Waihī, Paeroa and Whiritoa, and in the rural zone of the district.
“Depending upon the final form of the changes to the RMA and the Building Act, the council may need to increase resources in the areas of RMA and Building Act monitoring and enforcement.
“The Building Act exemption enabling cabins up to 30sq m to be built without building consent has created increased monitoring and enforcement activity for council and a further exemption would likely also increase compliance type issues (eg poor building materials, poor building construction, poor siting etc).”
Three options were tabled for consideration: do not make a submission, lodge the submission or lodge an amended/different submission.
Staff recommended proceeding with lodging the submission.
