Minutes of Future Napier Committee

Future Napier Committee - 18 June 2020 - Open Minutes

Agenda Items

1. Building Act Changes

Type of Report:	Information
Legal Reference:	Building Act 2004
Document ID:	932415
Reporting Officer/s & Unit:	Malcolm Smith, Manager Building Consents

1.1 Purpose of Report

To advise the Future Napier Committee on the potential implications on Council from proposed changes to the Building Act exempt work provisions.

At the Meeting

The Manager Building Consents spoke to the report, noting that while the changes to the Building Act have not yet been implemented, a review has been undertaken to assess any potential impacts for Council. A small revenue loss is theoretically possible but unlikely to be realised. The intended changes to the Building Act were briefly reviewed.

In response to questions from Councillors it was clarified that:

· People still have the option to apply for building consents even for exempted work. Where the work is undertaken by licensed practitioners there is little increase in risk.

· Once any updates to a property have been made, documentation should be provided to Council so that these can be lodged on the property file.

· While there may be less consenting required under the Building Act, resource and or planning consent still may be required, so it will be important to ensure that all required consents are still sought.

· Any easements are listed on a title so the owner should be aware of their existence, but there may still be a small risk that these are built over with a consent- exempt structures.

· There is already a variety of work that is exempt and people do still tend to liaise with Council around these for surety.

· The changes to the Building Act were unexpected, although it is believed that COVID-19 may have brought forward the timing of an update to the Act that was already intended. There have been a number of initiatives at a national level as a response to the impacts of COVID-19 to help facilitate recovery.

· Council provide a large amount of information to people in relation to their building projects, but also link to the MBIE website to ensure that the most up-to-date information from the lawmakers is directly available to all.

The Manager Building Consents then spoke to the resource that the Building team provides to another AlphaOne Council (there are 16 other Councils that use this system across the Country).

In 2018 it was proposed to a forum of the AlphaOne-using Councils that Napier could provide resourcing to help support their building consent processing. In early 2020, Napier started providing support in this manner to Selwyn Council as a trial. Selwyn experienced a growth in the number of consents during lockdown and Napier was able to help manage the peak. The trial has been assessed as a success by both Councils and it is proposed to test expansion of the offering to other Councils.

To further the initiative the Napier building team must be in a position to be able to resource the offering with correctly accredited personnel. The revenue from the other Councils funds new positions in Napier, meaning that the offering is cost-neutral for NCC. It was noted that the building industry is an aging one and Napier is building a young and skilled team which places the Council in a strong position to manage Napier’s consenting while also providing support to other Councils.

In response to questions from councillors it was clarified that:

· Most Councils struggle to recruit in this area, and the pool of recruits tends to be an aging one; often Councils choose to use contractors for peak periods at higher cost.

· Napier made a conscious decision a number of years ago to recruit and develop a younger team, and to date have been able to recruit to expand the team as required. Napier is therefore in a strong position as a young skilled team to provide processing support in a beneficial way to all Councils involved.

· Further extrapolations to how this support could be provided to other Councils and the risks and benefits will be considered by Council through the Long Term Plan process.

Committee's recommendation

Councillors Brosnan / Browne

The Future Napier Committee:

a. Note that the proposed changes to the Building Act will have minimal implications for Council.

b. Direct Officers to explore the possibility of growing the Building Team further to process applications for AlphaOne Councils.

Carried

2. Resource Consent Activity

Type of Report:	Information
Legal Reference:	Resource Management Act 1991
Document ID:	936789
Reporting Officer/s & Unit:	Paul O'Shaughnessy, Principal Resource Consents Planner

2.1 Purpose of Report

This report provides an update on the status of major developments applying for resource consent in Napier.

At the Meeting

The Chair noted that, moving forward, this will be a standing item on the agenda of the Future Napier Committee.

The Principal Resource Consents Planner spoke to the report, noting that the intention is to provide Council with an update of activities where the information is in the public arena.

Some key consents were touched on briefly, including:

· A new 5-level hotel proposed for 161 Marine Parade. It was originally approved in 2018 but as is often the case with large developments, some changes to the design meant a new updated application was required; this was approved in June 2020.

· Developments in the Te Awa area, including a suburban commercial shopping centre and future residential development.

· A number of applications still being processed include a large site in Taradale which is intended to hold 16 commercial and 1 hospitality tenancy. Impact analysis on this proposal is currently underway.

· An application for a large development on Willowbank Road. There has been some discussion in relation to the design of this development (which is proposed to be gated) as there will be impacts on how much public asset (roading and other reticulation) can be vested in Council depending on the approach taken.

In response to questions from Councillors it was clarified that:

· The proposed licensed premises will be subject to the standard rules for liquor license applications but currently their focus is on the resource consent requirements.

· There are a number of lifestyle villages/ gated communities across the country; however the current application needs to be assessed against Napier’s District Plan.

· Most retirement villages have an internal road which is private; however in these instances the property is owned by one holder, as opposed to a gated community where the properties will be owned by multiple people.

· A public road cannot be gated so public assets on a private road are complex and potentially unviable integrate.

· The Willowbank application has yet to be notified.

· When applications are received from Kainga Ora these could be reported on, but it was noted that not all applications from this agency include resource consents.

· The District Plan review process incorporates multiple conversations with elected members in relation to the rules and guidelines that help shape the city’s growth, and will also include an extensive consultation process.

· The current District Plan sets the criteria that all applications are assessed against and drives all decisions on these. Assessing applications is a very ‘cut and dried’ process.

ACTION: Some criteria will be put in place as to the types of consents that will be brought through to Council in this report, for example where social housing is involved. It will continue to include publicly available information only.

Committee's recommendation

Councillors Wright / Crown

The Future Napier Committee:

a. Receives the report.

Carried

The meeting closed at 11.00am

Approved and adopted as a true and accurate record of the meeting.

Chairperson .........................................................................................................

Date of approval ..................................................................................................