Government directed housing density change

[Brent George]

A Government appointed panel has suggested/directed the Christchurch City Council to consider smaller section sizes, townhouse and terrace style developments for parts of the city "amid concerns there is not enough capacity for household growth".  Stuff - 9-Feb 2016

Is this process a good or bad thing?  Is the potential densification necessary?  Are detractors within the NIMBY* group?

[*not in my back yard]

[Brent George]

Plea for leafy suburb to be exempt from new housing density rules
Stuff - The Press: 9-Aug-2021

Residents in a leafy Christchurch suburb are pleading with the city council to grant them an exemption from a new Government policy to increase housing density.

The new rules will destroy neighbourhoods and communities and will be a terrible mistake for Christchurch, Riccarton Bush Kilmarnock Residents’ Association member Tony Dale has told the Christchurch City Council.

“The suburbs will be filled up with high-rise buildings.”

The Government introduced a National Policy Statement (NPS) on urban development in July last year.
July 2020 - National Policy Statement on Urban Development

[Brent George]

Kāinga Ora suspends Auckland social housing project after neighbours complain
Stuff - Lifestyle: 28-June-2022

Kāinga Ora has “suspended” plans to build 37 houses for people without a home in Auckland’s Millwater following an outcry from neighbours concerned for their property values.

The government agency said it was taking the time to get feedback from the public to hear its “aspirations” for the neighbourhood.

Kāinga Ora confirmed that it had met with representatives of a group of neighbours opposed to the project last week.

Regional director Taina Jones said she acknowledged many Millwater residents had felt “taken by surprise” over plans for the site.

[Brent George]

Developers turn four sites into 110 new houses as they move in on quiet suburban street in Lower Hutt
Stuff - Dominion Post: 4-July-2022

Neighbours on Raukawa St, Lower Hutt, have raised the alarm over housing developments that will add 110 dwellings to the dead-end street that has fewer than 100 houses on it.

They fear road, transport and water infrastructure won’t cope and the character of the sleepy Stokes Valley street where the bush meets their back fences will be changed forever.

“It’s just s...,” said street resident Terene Batten​. “It’s the wrong place for it, but it was a perfect storm of developers wanting lots and paying out high prices.”

Residents say neighbours began selling up to developers about 18 months ago, with consecutive properties being targetted to maximise site footprints for multi-unit developments. Two such projects have been green-lit by the Hutt City Council this year, and two others are in the consenting stages.

[Brent George]

Councils are defying the need for housing intensification
Stuff - Opinion: 5-July-2022
[Oscar Sims is a spokesperson for the Coalition for More Homes.]


There were chaotic scenes in Auckland Council’s planning committee last week, over the plan changes to be made to bring the council’s urban planning in line with bipartisan housing legislation.

Committee members debated what carve-outs from intensification – called “qualifying matters” – that they could include. Under the new laws, this requires councils to perform a site-by-site analysis of the areas that they want to exclude from upzoning.

As a broad, non-partisan coalition of community organisations, the Coalition For More Homes believes that councils have spent too much effort diluting the intent of the legislation, by cooking up new qualifying matters, and not enough time ensuring that the new laws will provide quality, warm, dry houses for all.

Councils should be looking at where they can incorporate mixed-use development with shops and cafes below apartments

[Brent George]

From neighbouring one house to four, how intensification affects values
Stuff - Business: 10-July-2022

For 23 years North Shore resident Lenore Bullock​ lived next door to a four bed-room family home, but two months ago it was demolished and work is underway to put four houses on the same plot.

One of the new houses’ balconies will overlook her garden, and Bullock says what sunshine her garden gets will be gone.

“The council no longer care about houses losing sun, privacy or anything else,” she says.

Bullock​ says she and a number of neighbours around the East Coast Rd develop are also worried their houses will be devalued, but a local property mogul says owners can’t have their cake and eat it.

[Brent George]

Auckland Council still shielding posh areas from development, Government may intervene
Stuff - Business: 24-July-2022

A site-specific analysis may have been completed, but Auckland Council has made almost no changes to plans to continue shielding 16,000 homes in some of the city’s most central and affluent areas from intensification.

The decision has drawn criticism from Housing Minister Megan Woods, who said the Government had a range of options for intervention that may be appropriate to use at a later stage.

[Brent George]

Wealthy Aucklanders halt townhouses 'not in keeping' with their front yards - (Glendowie)
Stuff - Property: 28-July-2022

Residents in a wealthy Auckland suburb have stopped a development of 17 townhouses after arguing it would not be in keeping with the area's well-kept front yards.

The development in Glendowie attracted more than 200 submissions from neighbours when it was publicly notified by Auckland Council, with submitters claiming it would bring “young kids and cars” to the neighbourhood.

One submitter called it an “unconscionable destruction of another person’s capital value”.

[Brent George]

Burgeoning district grappling with new housing density rules
Stuff - National: 14-August-2022

The burgeoning district between Hamilton and Auckland is still grappling with exactly how to implement the Government’s new “three and three” housing intensification rules, mayor Allan Sanson says.

It’s in the same boat as nearby Waipā, which has notified a district plan change to give effect to the new rules. Meanwhile, Hamilton city has signed off on Plan Change 12 which will implement the Government’s change. The latter is due for ratification next week.

Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch are also covered by the new law directing intensification.

[Brent George]

Christchurch City Council gives the Government the 'proverbial finger' over plans to intensify housing
Stuff - The Press: 13-Sept-2022

Christchurch City Council has given the “proverbial finger” to the Government by refusing to push ahead with its intensification plans.

Councillors voted on Tuesday not to notify the Government’s plans to allow up to three, three-storey homes on most sections across the city.

The decision, which was met with loud cheers from the public gallery, means the council now risks having the Government step in and push through the changes without the protections the council had proposed.

However, that was a risk many Councillors were willing to take in order to send a strong message to the Government.

Now it will be interesting to see:
- if central government do indeed step in and enforce the intensification provisions for Chch city
- and if they do - would developments and the existing neighbours be better or worse off than if local government had "control"
- how many speculators now try to quit the properties they had snaffled up in anticipation of implementation this month....

[Brent George]

The need for more housing - should Christchurch be a special case?
Stuff - The Press: 17-Sept-2022

Does Christchurch have a case for special treatment on housing density rules?


New Government rules aimed at curbing urban sprawl have been given the thumbs-up by other councils.

But in Christchurch, all they got was the proverbial finger.

Last year the Government passed a law requiring housing density changes in the six fastest growing cities, in an attempt to lower carbon emissions and boost the supply of affordable homes.

The rules would allow three, three-storey buildings to be built on sections in most parts of Christchurch. Permitted housing heights would rise to six storeys near business and shopping hubs, and higher still in and near the central city.

[Brent George]

Government appoints investigator over Christchurch's refusal to implement housing density rules
Stuff - The Press: 17-Nov-2022

The Government has appointed an investigator to work with Christchurch City Council following its refusal to approve new housing density rules.

Associate Minister for the Environment Phil Twyford announced on Thursday he had appointed mediator John Hardie to “understand the issues with housing intensification” in the city.

Twyford said Hardie would also explore a way forward, so the council complied with the law.

[Sounds like it'll be Hobsons Choice for the CCC.... ]

[Brent George]

Residents Air Frustrations about Proposed Development at 240 Kāpiti Rd
NZ Herald - 23-Nov-2022

A proposed Paraparaumu subdivision’s size and location have not gone down well with nearby residents.

Gresham Trust wants to build 135 two-storey homes on a 1.9ha piece of land, commonly known as the horse paddock, at 240 Kāpiti Rd, with access via Halsey Grove.

Council’s principal resource consents planner Sarah Banks has backed the proposal and now a hearing commissioner will either grant or decline the proposal.

But the proposal, which had limited notification only for immediate neighbours, hasn’t been greeted with enthusiasm in various quarters.

[Brent George]

Nov 17, 2022 0:24:35 GMT Brent George said:

Government appoints investigator over Christchurch's refusal to implement housing density rules
Stuff - The Press: 17-Nov-2022

The Government has appointed an investigator to work with Christchurch City Council following its refusal to approve new housing density rules.
.......

An Update:
Residents still in dark over investigation into city's refusal to implement housing density rule
Stuff - The Press: 25-Nov-2022
A Government-appointed investigator looking into the Christchurch City Council’s refusal to approve new housing density rules has met with the mayor, but it is still not clear if residents will have any input.

Christchurch-based mediator John Hardie was appointed last week by associate Minister for the Environment Phil Twyford to “understand the issues with housing intensification” in the city.

More than 20 residents’ associations across the city are sending a letter to Twyford asking that their voices be heard by Hardie during his investigation.

[Brent George]

Housing Intensification Changes for Christchurch a Year Away
Stuff - National: 23-Dec-2022

Santa has come early for the swathes of Christchurch residents against the Government’s housing intensification rules.

When the Christchurch City Council rejected the new medium density standards on housing in September, it was in breach of the law and a Government investigator was appointed.

However, the attendees of a council webinar last week heard the investigator wouldn’t force the rules onto council, but listen to council’s side of things.

That, and the news that an alternative plan won’t be adopted until the second half of 2023, was considered “an early Christmas present” to Geoff Banks, on behalf of the city’s 24 residential associations.