Auckland’s new plan to make room for two million homes has stirred up divided views between housing advocates excited for growth and locals keen on preserving the charm of the city’s character suburbs.
The city’s skyline is in for a major makeover with Auckland Council dropping its boldest planning update since the 2016 Unitary Plan, aiming to boost building heights and density around major transport routes and town centres.
The draft plan is a response to a new framework for urban development in Auckland put forward by RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop.
Among the proposed changes are:
Coalition for More Homes spokesman Scott Caldwell was “stoked to see more homes on the agenda”, while Character Coalition spokeswoman Sally Hughes said most special character areas (SCA) of kauri villas and Californian bungalows had been retained.
Caldwell described the overall capacity as promising and said: “We’re pretty happy with the direction – it’s a positive step. There are some devils in the details, though, and we’ll need to ensure the plan is truly deliverable.”
He emphasised the importance of aligning housing with existing infrastructure and said the coalition has long been saying building near infrastructure we already have is more affordable for the city overall.
“It’s also better for the economy and the environment to have people living close to connections with the city centre – near where they work, play and live.”
Caldwell was pleased to see some SCAs retained, but did not believe the city centre’s walkable catchment had undergone enough change – “There are massive urban development opportunities in Ponsonby and Freemans Bay that remain untapped”.
He also raised doubts about the feasibility of proposed height limits, saying the council’s plans for 10 and 15-storey buildings don’t seem economically viable. Setbacks and recession planes could effectively reduce the height limit to six storeys.
“The tower-and-podium model they’re suggesting is more suited to 40-storey developments.”
Caldwell said excluding flood-prone areas is a positive move. And while the construction sector has built out much of the available land for townhouses in recent years, the focus should shift to apartments, which have been under-delivered over the past decade under the Unitary Plan.
Hughes expressed relief that most SCAs proposed in an earlier plan change will be retained and not lost to intensification, except within the walkable catchments of Maungawhau (Mt Eden), Kingsland, Morningside, Baldwin Ave, and Mt Albert train stations.
Bishop has insisted these stations, located on or near the $5.5 billion City Rail Link, be upzoned for apartment buildings of 10 to 15 storeys.
At a media briefing on Monday, council officers said 70-80% of Kingsland is expected to lose its special character status, although the avenues will retain theirs.
Hughes also voiced concern over upzoning in other areas, including much of St Marys Bay and the Remuera ridge, which are earmarked for six-storey developments. Parnell, she said, “is also not looking good”.
“Auckland doesn’t need another two million zoned properties based on what we believe is a false premise that zoning more land automatically leads to more housing. We know that’s not true,” she said.
Hughes said the Unitary Plan already provides for 900,000 homes. While it has enabled significant development, she argued, it hasn’t delivered the full number, so why zone for two million?
Balmoral Residents’ Association chairman John Burns was relieved the council planned to keep the suburb’s character areas.
“A recent council survey found that Balmoral’s character areas are of high quality and should be kept,” he said.
Bishop has told councils in large cities they may “opt out” of the medium density residential standards (MDRS) introduced by the last Government. The MDRS are regulations that allow three-storey developments on almost every residential property.
But Bishop said the MDRS could be abandoned only if the council adopted new planning rules to allow for an equivalent number of homes. In Auckland, this means the council must provide for two million homes over the coming decades.
This is more than the 900,000 homes allowed for under the Unitary Plan adopted in 2016.
On Thursday, councillors will be asked to endorse the proposed changes and to consult with Local Boards, iwi authorities, neighbouring councils and Government ministries before deciding next month whether to abandon the MDRS and approve the draft replacement plan.
There will be no public consultation, because of insufficient time and cost, according to a report going to Thursday’s policy and planning committee.
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