One week left to submit on proposed plan changes

In a growing city, it is crucial that council plans for today’s but also for future generations. Council proposes changes to some City Plan rules to cater for this growth. These changes aid in providing more housing capacity and to enable new developments and redevelopments to be managed in a way that reduces risk to property and lives.

Submissions are open on three proposed plan changes, Plan Change 26 – Housing choice, Plan Change 27 – Flooding from intense rainfall and Plan Change 30 – Earthworks until 5pm, Monday, 1 February.

Consultation documents providing details on the proposed plan changes along with the detailed proposals and information about how community members can give their feedback are available at www.tauranga.govt.nz/planchanges, council’s customer service centre and the city’s libraries.

Submissions must be lodged in writing. People can:

• fill in an online submission form
• send feedback via email to [email protected]
• call 07 577 7000 to request a hard copy submission form/information
• print out a pdf version of the survey and freepost the responses back to council (no stamp required: Manager: City and Infrastructure Planning, Tauranga City Council, Freepost Authority Number 370, Private Bag 12022, Tauranga 3143).

Go to www.tauranga.govt.nz/planchanges or call 07 577 7000 to find out more.
 
Proposed plan change 26 – Housing choice
Plan Change 26 proposes changes to the City Plan to make it easier for people to build a variety of more compact types of homes, like duplexes, terraced houses, townhouses and apartments. This will better suit people’s different needs and create great spaces and neighbourhoods for us all to live in.
People can find out where this plan change allows for more housing choice, where it does or doesn't apply and the proposed rules at www.tauranga.govt.nz/housing-choice.

Proposed plan change 27 – Flooding from intense rainfall
The purpose of Plan Change 27 is to ensure that future land use, subdivision and development within Tauranga is planned to be resilient to flooding. The plan change introduces a new rule framework to the Tauranga City Plan to manage the effects of flooding from intense rainfall on people, properties and infrastructure, including new rules around impervious surfaces on properties.
People can find out about the rules this plan change proposes and frequently asked questions at www.tauranga.govt.nz/pc27.

The maps provided at www.tauranga.govt.nz/floodmaps are non-statutory and can continue to be reviewed on a property-specific basis outside the submission process. Property owners can seek a review of the flooding that has been identified on their site by emailing [email protected] with all relevant information available. Council will review the flooding that has been identified for the site.

Proposed plan change 30 – Earthworks
This plan change proposes to clarify wording of existing provisions to ensure that earthworks are undertaken in a safe manner, avoiding negative effects on the environment.

What happens next in the plan change process
The submission period for the three plan changes closes at 5pm on Monday, 1 February and a summary of submissions will be published in early 2021. Council will summarise all submissions, which essentially lists the main points made by each submitter, including their reasons and what outcome they seek. For simplicity, this is called a summary of submissions. The summary is prepared, so people can decide if a submission is of interest to them, and whether they wish to make a further submission to support or oppose the original submission.

Any further submissions must be made within 10 working days of the public notice of the summary of submissions and must be made in opposition or support of an original submission. It also provides people the opportunity to comment on how a submission may impact them, and to have their views considered by the hearing committee along with the original submission.

Once council has received all submissions and further submissions, council staff will prepare a hearings report. This report contains a summary and analysis of submissions and further submissions as well as recommendations about which parts of the plan change should be adopted, removed or modified. All submitters will be sent a copy/link to the hearings report.

All submissions will be considered by the hearing committee. Where comments or feedback have been made that are not on the proposed plan change, the independent hearing committee will decide whether these can be considered through the plan change process. The hearing committee considers the submissions received and will provide recommendations and the decision. All submitters will be notified when the decision is issued and there is the ability to appeal the decisions to the Environment Court.