Commissioners will consider Amberley development

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from Northern Outlook

From local democracy reporter David Hill:

Commissioners will consider the fate of a housing development in Amberley.

The Hurunui District Council’s strategy and policy committee voted last week to appoint two independent commissioners to consider submissions for a resource consent application for stages three to six in The Clearing subdivision.

The Clearing subdivision, located between Amberley Beach and Carters roads, has 123 sections established in the first two stages.

The application proposed creating a further 201 sections ranging in size from 400m2 to 1028m2, with the vast majority below 700m2.

But the Hurunui District Plan allowed for just 20 percent of sections to be smaller than 700m2 for residential 1A zone.

Other variations to the District Plan, included several sections not meeting the 15m by 15m shape factor requirement, non-compliance with the minimum 20m road width and a lack of provision of footpaths on both sides of the roads.

Mayor Marie Black said she favoured appointing two independent commissioners due to the extent of the non-compliance and the importance to the community.

■ Hurunui councillors have also hailed the success of an initiative to improve the use of rural property numbering.

Council staff joined joined forces with Culverden Volunteer Fire Brigade chief fire officer Craig Ritchie last year to improve the visibility and accuracy of RAPID (rural address property identification) numbering in the Amuri Basin.

Audits have been completed on 70 dairy farms, the council has approved the naming of rights-of-way, and 576 property owners have purchased RAPID numbers from RTL Ltd. The council hoped to roll the initiative out over other parts of the district.

■ Council staff have sought clarity on how to dispose of land which is not for sale.

Councillors adopted a draft Disposal of Property Policy, which includes a section on council property which is not for sale, at last week’s strategy and policy committee meeting.

Chief operations officer Dan Harris said the council had a range of options to dispose of property which was surplus to requirements.

These included repurposing the property for another purpose, gifting property which was no longer financially beneficial to the council, selling the property, or demolition.

‘‘Challenges had arisen around the distribution of the proceeds from the sale of property, and last year it was first determined that a policy review would help address this issue,’’ Harris said.

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