Damon Harvey wants the council to be more responsive to demand for land.
The Hastings District Council has made some excellent strides in economic development over the last 12 months, making a concerted effort to have an open-door policy when it comes to attracting new businesses to Hastings. However more needs to be done.
The council appointed a strong economic development team and has taken a key account management approach to assist businesses through the red tape that is part of the process when you're building a facility in the likes of Irongate, Omahu or Whakatu or a residential development.
Just recently the council brought in some key business people to get their views on how supportive the council is and what opportunities could be taken advantage of to create more jobs and attract more people to Hastings.
Fast forward to the Annual Plan process we've just undertaken and it has become very evident that the council still has a lot of work to do in keeping pace with the business community.
Two local businessmen, Rick Cranswick and John Roil, gave presentations that demonstrated the unfairness and slow action that has occurred in developing the Irongate industrial zone. John, a former councillor, and his family has owned land in the area for many years, which with unproductive soils, is well suited to industrial development.
Although the council also recognises this, it has taken over 10 years and at least $13 million in lost opportunities to only now make some headway with development. Still, as John and Rick said during their submissions, landowners are expected to financially contribute more than their fair share via development contributions (DCs). As an example in 2014 the council quoted the DCs on a 5000sq m industrial building as being $546,426 to connect all services. This obviously scared off many businesses interested in relocating to Hastings.
I have also witnessed the huge demand for residential land across Hastings. The council has yet to formally sign off its long-term, land-use process called HPUDS, which is aimed at finding a balance of protecting the district's productive land while at the same time accommodating population growth. You only have to read yesterday's HB Today to see the major problems we have with housing stocks being at an all-time low.
Lyndhurst is one area that is under way as a staged release with 294 sections in Stage 1 and 270 in Stage 2, totaling 620 sections.
In May, a developer released 29 sections, all of which were sold at lightning speed. It was the first significant release of land in the last 12 months.
Many were bought by mums and dads eager to build their dream home. The remainder were picked up by builders desperate to continue to keep the work flowing over the coming months.
The demand has probably been around for longer than 12 months, yet the council continues to slowly react to the market and instead we could find ourselves with land becoming available during the next recession.
We should, in fact, be doing everything we can to capitalise on the current demand and supply issue and assist those whowant to develop, on land that's already set aside, to do so.
It will not only provide more new housing for locals and people moving from Auckland, but create new work for our trades community of builders, plumbers, electricians as well as property professionals such as architects and lawyers. Housing affordability is another reason to get more to market - as land prices have gone up by extraordinary levels.
Last year the council held a meeting with the construction community where many within the industry warned council that if infrastructure investment and building processing wasn't fast-tracked they would be out of work within six months.
Currently if you own land that's within HPUDS for residential development it could take nearly two years before a family is enjoying their new home.
I sometimes wonder whether council recognises the risks taken by property developers - whether that be commercial, industrial or residential.
Their economic and social impact on our community is incredibly significant. They create jobs both during the construction period but also long term. A great example of this, which the Hastings economic development team was instrumental in, was the Kiwibank relocation from Wellington to Hastings.
Those that moved here have bought homes, moved children to local schools, contribute to the council via rates and therefore enable the council to invest in new infrastructure (secure water) and social settings such as the new Village Green and the Sports Park as well as add to the vibrancy of the CBD.
Let's listen to our customers, not provide poor service any longer and make hay while the sun shines.
Damon Harvey is a Hastings District councillor.
Views expressed here are the writer's opinion and not the newspaper's. Email: editor@hbtoday.co.nz