Plan Change 19 decision to be notified
The Central Otago District Council has adopted the recommendation of its Hearings Panel on a change to the residential chapter of its District Plan that will free up more land for residential development in the district.
Referred to as Plan Change 19 (PC 19), the plan change effectively re-zones land for development in Cromwell, Alexandra, and Clyde while giving effect to the outcomes of the Cromwell and Vincent spatial plans, to meet future growth demand.
PC 19 includes a complete and comprehensive suite of changes to the way the district’s residential areas and zones are managed under the Central Otago District Council (CODC) District Plan.
At the meeting yesterday (Wednesday 29 May 2024), the Council resolved to publicly notify the decision of the Hearings Panel. The decision will be subject to an appeal period of 30 working days.
If no appeals are received, the plan change and its provisions will become fully operative. If any appeals are received, the provisions subject to the appeal will not become operative until those appeals have been resolved.
Central Otago Mayor Tim Cadogan said the plan change was great news for the district as it provides a practical means to assist in easing the problem of housing availability and affordability.
“There is no doubt that there is a housing shortage issue in Central Otago, which comes down to supply and demand. The census figures released this week reflect the significant growth, amongst the highest in country, which will impact on the demand side of the equation; this plan change is a practical means for council to provide the means to meet the supply issue.”
A total of 171 submissions and 76 further submissions were received on the plan change through the consultation process that began in July 2022.
Deputy Mayor Neil Gillespie is chair of the Hearings Panel.
“PC19 has been one of the most significant plan changes for the Council to consider in recent years. The Panel acknowledges the extensive efforts that submitters put into both their submissions and the evidence that was presented at the hearings. Some 10 days or so of hearings and many hours of deliberations have resulted in new land being zoned for residential use, identification of some areas for future growth, the alignment of existing residential zoning with the proposed new zones and has provided new provisions for managing land use and subdivisions within the residential zones, to provide for the anticipated growth over the next 30 years.”
The Council was set to make a decision on PC 19 at its April meeting. However, in the week prior to the draft decision being considered by Council, a new Environment Court Decision was released in relation to land that was classified as productive that directly related to evidence received in support of two submissions.
The Hearings Panel invited the two submitters to provide written comment in relation to the Environment Court case, which the panel took into consideration in its final deliberations.
The panel’s recommendation came back to Council for a decision at the Wednesday meeting, with the Council approving the plan change as recommended.
- To find out more about Plan Change 19 and other District Plan changes go to: District Plan Changes - Central Otago District Council (codc.govt.nz) and Let’s Talk: Find All District Plan Changes Here | Let’s Talk Central Otago (codc.govt.nz).
- The report from Wednesday’s Council meeting is available on the Council website: Agenda of Council meeting - Wednesday, 29 May 2024 (infocouncil.biz)
- The recording is available at: Meeting Recordings - Central Otago District Council (codc.govt.nz)
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Update: Plan Change 19 was first notified in early June following the May Councill meeting, and renotified (The News 27 June 2024 - Noticeboard: Newsletters - Central Otago District Council (codc.govt.nz) due to two errors identified in relation to the Future Growth Overlay provisions that needed to be corrected to reflect the Hearings Panel decision.
The specific changes are:
• Paragraph 134 of the decision is amended to include crossing out of text that reflects the decision of the Hearings Panel. • Rule SUB-R8 has been amended to include a pathway under the Future Growth Overlay area in Omakau (SUB-R8.6) that was omitted from the provisions table.
• Associated changes to the mapping of the Future Growth Overlays.
The closing date for lodging an appeal is Friday 9 August 2024.
