Submissions pour in for Waimakariri council

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from Northern Outlook

By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter

Public feedback on proposed planning rules and the Ohoka private plan change application is keeping Waimakariri council staff busy.

Staff say they have received more submissions than expected.

The new Waimakariri District Plan was notified last year, but the council was required to notify two variations in August for housing intensification and financial contributions.

This followed the passing of the Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021 in December.

This directed the council to adopt medium density housing standards for the district’s main urban areas.

Submissions closed last month.

Staff are compiling a summary of submissions, including summaries of submissions on the two variations, and were due to email submitters by the end of this month.

The council will likely call for further submissions next month.

Staff are also busy processing around 630 submissions for the proposed Ohoka private plan change (Plan Change 31) by Rolleston Industrial Developments Ltd.

The developer is proposing to build an 850 house sub-division and a commercial area next to the small, rural village of Ohoka, near Rangiora.

The next step will be to notify a prepared summary of submissions and then allow a further 10 days for submissions.

‘‘This is a change to the existing operative plan.

‘‘The summary of submissions on this private plan change are notified separately,’’ a council spokesperson said.

An independent commissioner(s) will hear the application, but it will be some time before commissioners are appointed, the spokesperson said.

‘‘Until we are aware of the full range of submitters and further submitters, the council cannot engage commissioners as they will need to be in a position to fully consider any conflicts of interest that may arise.’’

The implications of the recently announced National Policy Statement on Highly Productive Land are also being considered.

The new NPS requires developers to demonstrate land they wish to develop does not contain ‘‘highly productive soil’’.

‘‘Given this is a relatively recent National Policy Statement we have not yet considered a view on how this may impact both the District Plan Review and Plan Change 31,’’ the council spokesperson said.

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