Twyford's UDA also enables Kāinga Ora and its partners to acquire land (either compulsorily or through agreement), override provisions in Resource Management Act plans or policy statements, get work consented by Kāinga Ora, levy homeowners to help pay for infrastructure, reconfigure reserves, and build or change infrastructure.
Kāinga Ora's general manager for urban planning and design, Katja Lietz, explained that these powers already exist. But the UDA brings them together, making them easier to access for approved projects.
She believed the scale and complexity of development planned for Porirua meant it could be appropriate for the process to finally be used.
Indeed, the 1036 hectares of greenfield land eyed for development (the Northern Growth Area) has seven owners and multiple project partners.
Kāinga Ora will spend the next nine months assessing whether the project should become a Specified Development Project (SDP) under the UDA.
"Once the assessment is complete, Kāinga Ora will recommend to the ministers responsible whether or not an SDP should be established; however, we have a way to go before that decision is made," Lietz said.
Porirua City Council chief executive Wendy Walker said, "The council and landowners have already progressed planning changes to enable new housing and urban development in this area. While use of an SDP is explored further, we expect these planning processes will continue."
Lietz was unsurprised the UDA, which is key to the former Labour-led Government's housing policy, hadn't been used yet.
She said it's taken time for developers and councils to get their heads around it. Furthermore, it isn't necessarily the fastest route to go down for small-time developments, or for if there is a single landowner.
Kāinga Ora is currently considering whether it would be appropriate for the UDA to be used for the Let's Get Wellington Moving housing and transport plan.
Earlier, an application for Winton Land to use the special fast-track powers in the UDA for a 5000-home development in South Auckland was declined.
Constrained Government resources and Treaty of Waitangi issues were cited as reasons for the rejection.
Another complex piece of legislation Twyford created during the last term of government, the Infrastructure Funding and Finance Act 2020, is also yet to be used.
This legislation creates a pathway for developers to levy landowners to fund the infrastructure they use. Crown Infrastructure Partners was involved in spearheading such an approach at a development in Milldale, in northern Auckland.
While other developers are considering replicating such an arrangement, none have locked in plans to do so using provisions in the Infrastructure Funding and Finance Act.
Housing Minister Megan Woods has attempted to address the problem of a lack of infrastructure stymying development by making around $1 billion of Government grants available through a contestable Infrastructure Acceleration Fund, launched in June last year.
