Hastings inner-city living on council agenda

Making it easier to build new, or convert existing buildings such as these in Heretaunga St, is one way the Hastings council is aiming to reinvigorate the city centre.

The Hastings District Council has taken another step to pave the way for more inner-city living, giving the go-ahead for staff to investigate a variation to the proposed Hastings District Plan.

The council's planning and regulatory committee met yesterday and heard from environmental policy team leader Megan Gaffaney that like other provincial towns and cities, Hastings faced challenges from changing retail trends, which in turn put into question the function of these urban centres.

One of the key objectives of the Hastings city centre strategy was to bring returns to businesses ,with more people living in close proximity, improved vibrancy, reduced transport pressures and congestion, and housing choices that would reduce pressure on growing areas, she said.

Currently zoned central commercial, residential activities were permitted on first floor sites in the Hastings CBD as long as they had designated retail frontage.

If outside the designated retail frontage a non-complying resource consent was required.

There were also rules in the plan that potentially made the conversion of commercial buildings to residential difficult, including a requirement for balconies, on-site care parking and a minimum floor area of 50sq m, Ms Gaffaney said.

"The economic development team have been talking to members of the community who have talked about the constraints to inner-city living and asked whether there are ways we can facilitate making it happen."

She said this was particularly the case around Heretaunga and Queen Sts where buildings with vacant first floors represented "untapped potential".

Consideration would, however, need to be made for issues such as balconies which added to the central district character and may require resource consents to change.

Councillor Damon Harvey recently attended the International Cities, Town Centres and Communities conference in Melbourne and said one of the main issues raised was inner-city living.

"The strong message was that the CBD should be centred around lifestyle - people living, doing business and having fun adds to that significantly."

The move was welcomed by Hastings City Business Association manager Susan McDade who said all her research had shown that inner-city residential occupancy was the biggest activator of CBD vibrancy.

"It supports hospitality, retail, events and acts as passive security after hours."

She said there were several ways the Hastings council was actively trying to encourage this type of development.

"I would like to see both incentives for conversion as well as streamlining the compliance process removing unnecessary barriers.

"This should be one of the key focus areas for revitalising Hastings city for the future."