Whangārei District Council CEO responds to Parua Bay Plan Change (PC85C – Rural Villages) concerns

The old wharf at Parua Bay with residential homes in the background. Photo/Tania Whyte

OPINION

Last month a large group of Parua Bay residents attended the District Council's policy and planning meeting to protest about a Plan Change (PC85C – Rural Villages) that allowed residential development on land between Whangārei Heads Road and the Landscape supplies business on Pataua South Rd.

Some people attending thought that the re-zoning was for high density residential development and that there was no public consultation on the matter. Some even questioned whether the Plan Change was a conspiracy between council and a developer.

I am very pleased to be able to allay these concerns. In short:
* There was considerable consultation.
* While there is now more residential-zoned land than before, the density is the same as that in the Kiteone Rd residential area.
* The Plan Change was part of a rolling review.

Rob Forlong, chief executive of the Whangārei District Council. Photo/John Stone

Consultation

To ensure everyone has equal opportunity to know about consultation opportunities, and that they are managed in a fair and democratic way, processes to follow are laid out in legislation.

Council is bound to, and does, follow these processes and is subject to annual audit on this. Frequently people who believe they were not consulted on a decision, may in fact have missed or overlooked opportunities to have their say.

This is especially true with processes that roll out over decades, during which people move into and leave areas. Often people forget about earlier consultation, or do not make connections between one set of consultation and the way it flows into the next over long periods of time.

We are working on making these connections clearer in our own communications.

Consultation

In Parua Bay a rolling programme of consultation about development in the area has been under way for at least 15 years.

Key dates are as follows:

19 September 2002: Coastal Management Strategy adopted after public consultation
11 February 2009: Parua Bay Structure Plan adopted after public consultation
22 September 2010: Sustainable Futures 30/50 adopted after public consultation

November 2014-March 2015: Draft plan changes were notified for feedback
August 2015–September 2015: Draft plan changes were again notified for feedback

10 August 2016: Public Notification of the current Plan Change (PC85C etc) and call for submissions (40 working days, which is twice the 20 working days required under the Resource Management Act)
4 October 2016: Closing date for submissions
23 November 2016: Public notification of call for further submissions

Summary of submissions sent to the original submitters and to ratepayers affected by submissions seeking rezoning of their land

20 December 2016: Closing date for further submissions
3 July 2017: Hearings commenced

Community consultation on the development in Parua Bay began with consultation on the Parua Bay Structure Plan in 2008, which was developed as part of the Coastal Management Strategy which had been adopted in 2002 and which had won an award from the New Zealand Planning Institute for community consultation.

The Structure Plan maps for each coastal village were finalised and adopted in 2009 after further consultation in 2008. Structure Plans are non-statutory spatial plans intended to reflect community expectations for development over the next 20 years.

The Parua Bay Structure Plan underpinned the development of Plan Change (PC85C – Rural Villages), particularly the zoning decisions.

Parua Bay was also identified as growth node in the Whangārei District Growth Strategy: Sustainable Futures 30/50, another document that involved extensive community consultation and was adopted by Council in 2010.

The current plan change draft (PC85C etc.) was released for non-statutory consultation prior to formal notification. The draft identified all the land north of Whangarei Heads Road down to the landscaping supplies company, as well as all the land between Kiteone and Whangarei Heads Road, for residential development, but not high density development.

Following this pre-consultation, the area identified for new residential zoning was reduced to ensure the capacity of the reticulated services would be adequate. The plan change was then released for formal consultation.

When the Plan Change (PC85C etc.) was notified for formal consultation in August 2016 anyone could make a submission. People's submissions, including those requesting that their land to be rezoned, were published by Council in a summary of submissions.Further submissions were called for providing the public with a second formal process by which they could either oppose or support the original submissions. All affected parties were notified by mail where a zoning was proposed to change and WDC did numerous media releases to publicise the plan change.

Density

The Plan Change allows development down to 500sq m if the land is serviced and 2000sq m if it is not. The minimum lot sizes are the same as the existing Living 1 and Living 3 Environments at Parua Bay.

During consultation multiple submissions requested additional residential zoning and further submissions supported these requests. No submissions were received requesting less residential zoning. More detailed investigation was undertaken regarding the reticulated services capacity in response to these submissions.

The Plan Change hearing was held in front of three independent commissioners, one of whom was former councillor. Members of the public spoke to their submission sand WDC staff made recommendations to the commissioners, based on the review of the Plan and consideration of issues submitters raised.

The hearing panel then recommended that the land referred to be zoned Rural Village Residential.

Finally

Council carries out a 10-year Rolling Review of its District Plan to keep it up to date. This involves reviewing different parts of the District Plan every year following a process that includes public consultation. The current plan change (PC85C etc.) is part of WDC's rolling review of the District Plan. It was not a private plan change and has not been sought by any private party.

My thanks to the Advocate for the opportunity to provide this background. I hope it proves useful.

* Rob Forlong is the chief executive of Whangārei District Council.