Unitary Plan Agenda May 2014

Note: The reports contained within this agenda are for consideration and should not be construed as Council
cil policy
unless and until adopted. Should Members require further information relating to any reports, please contact
the relevant manager, Chairperson or Deputy Chairperson.

I hereby give notice that an ordinary meeting of the Unitary Plan Committee will be held on:

Date:
Time:
Meeting Room:
Venue:

Tuesday, 20 May 2014
1.30pm
Auckland Town Hall
Reception Lounge
Level 2
301-305 Queen Street
Auckland

Unitary Plan Committee

OPEN AGENDA

MEMBERSHIP

Chairperson Cr Alf Filipaina
Deputy Chairperson Cr Penny Hulse
Members Cr Anae Arthur Anae
Cr Dr Cathy Casey
Cr Chris Darby
Cr Denise Krum
Member Liane Ngamane
Member Josie Smith
Cr Wayne Walker
Cr Penny Webster

Ex-officio Mayor Len Brown, JP

(Quorum 6 members)

Suad Allie

Democracy Advisor

14 May 2014

Contact Telephone: (09) 367 3078
Email: suad.allie@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
Website: www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Responsibilities

A committee that will give direction to officers on matters associated with the Unitary Plan including:

Councils submission to the UP (final sign off with parent committee)
Response to matters raised by the submission process
Pre-hearing mediation

Substantive issues of policy require approval by the parent committee.

Powers

All powers necessary to perform the Committees responsibilities.

Except:

(a) powers that the Governing Body cannot delegate or has retained to itself (see Governing Body
responsibilities)
(b) where the Committees responsibility is limited to making a recommendation only

20 May 2014

Page 3

ITEM TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE
1 Apologies 5
2 Declaration of Interest 5
3 Confirmation of Minutes 5
4 Petitions 5
5 Public Input 5
6 Local Board Input 5
7 Extraordinary Business 6
8 Notices of Motion 6
9 Auckland Unitary Plan update 7
10 Consideration of Extraordinary Items

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Page 5

1 Apologies

At the close of the agenda no apologies had been received.

2 Declaration of Interest

Members are reminded of the need to be vigilant to stand aside from decision making
when a conflict arises between their role as a member and any private or other external
interest they might have.

3 Confirmation of Minutes

That the Unitary Plan Committee:
a) confirm the ordinary minutes of its meeting, held on Tuesday, 25 February 2014, as a
true and correct record.

4 Petitions

At the close of the agenda no requests to present petitions had been received.

5 Public Input

Standing Order 3.21 provides for Public Input. Applications to speak must be made to the
Committee Secretary, in writing, no later than two (2) working days prior to the meeting
and must include the subject matter. The meeting Chairperson has the discretion to
decline any application that does not meet the requirements of Standing Orders. A
maximum of thirty (30) minutes is allocated to the period for public input with five (5)
minutes speaking time for each speaker.

At the close of the agenda no requests for public input had been received.

6 Local Board Input

Standing Order 3.22 provides for Local Board Input. The Chairperson (or nominee of that
Chairperson) is entitled to speak for up to five (5) minutes during this time. The
Chairperson of the Local Board (or nominee of that Chairperson) shall wherever practical,
give two (2) days notice of their wish to speak. The meeting Chairperson has the
discretion to decline any application that does not meet the requirements of Standing
Orders.

This right is in addition to the right under Standing Order 3.9.14 to speak to matters on the
agenda.

At the close of the agenda no requests for local board input had been received.

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7 Extraordinary Business

Section 46A(7) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (as
amended) states:

An item that is not on the agenda for a meeting may be dealt with at that meeting if-

(a) The local authority by resolution so decides; and

(b) The presiding member explains at the meeting, at a time when it is open to the
public,-

(i) The reason why the item is not on the agenda; and

(ii) The reason why the discussion of the item cannot be delayed until a
subsequent meeting.

Section 46A(7A) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (as
amended) states:

Where an item is not on the agenda for a meeting,-

(a) That item may be discussed at that meeting if-

(i) That item is a minor matter relating to the general business of the local
authority; and

(ii) the presiding member explains at the beginning of the meeting, at a time
when it is open to the public, that the item will be discussed at the meeting;
but

(b) no resolution, decision or recommendation may be made in respect of that item
except to refer that item to a subsequent meeting of the local authority for further
discussion.

8 Notices of Motion

At the close of the agenda no requests for notices of motion had been received.

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Auckland Unitary Plan update Page 7

Auckland Unitary Plan update

File No.: CP2014/09432

Purpose
1. The purpose of this report is to update the committee on progress with the preparation of the
Summary of Decisions Requested Report (the summary report) in respect of submissions on
the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan (PAUP). The report discusses the framework used to
complete this task, provides some preliminary statistical information and seeks a decision
from the committee in relation to the production of hard copies of the submissions and the
summary report. The report also provides an update on the Auckland Unitary Plan
Independent Hearings Panel (IHP) and discusses the upcoming work programme for the
Unitary Plan Committee.
Executive summary
2. The PAUP was notified on 30 September 2013. Submissions closed on 28 February 2014.
8,958 submissions were received within the submission period. A further 513 late
submissions have been received. The next step in the statutory process is to notify a
summary of the decisions requested in the submissions. Significant resources have been
deployed to complete this task. The summary report is scheduled for notification in early
June. The 30 working day further submission period will then begin.
3. The Government-appointed Auckland Unitary Plan Independent Hearings Panel (IHP) has
commenced its work, and council staff have been appointed to support the IHP. Once the
summary report is notified, the IHP will be in a position to finalise a schedule of pre-hearing
meetings and hearings for the many topics addressed in the submissions. The detailed work
programme for the Unitary Plan Committee will become clearer at that time, however this
report provides a very early indication of the work that will be required.

Recommendation/s
That the Unitary Plan Committee:
a) receive the report.
b) agree to make hard copies of the Summary of Decisions Requested Report in respect
of submission on the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan available in all council libraries
(excluding those with insufficient display space), local board offices and the main
council service centres.
c) agree to make available on request, hard copies of submissions on the Proposed
Auckland Unitary Plan, subject to the councils standard printing and administration
costs.

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Comments

Update on Submissions

Preparing the Summary of Decisions Requested Report

4. 8958 submissions were received on the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan (PAUP) by 5pm on
the closing date, 28 February 2014. A further 513 submissions have been received since
that time, some of which contained supplementary information relating to a submission that
had been lodged on time. The Chair of the Auckland Unitary Plan Independent Hearings
Panel (IHP), Judge Kirkpatrick, has the power to accept or reject late submissions. The
relevant matters the Chair needs to consider are set out in section 135 of the Local
Government (Auckland Transitional Provisions) Act (refer Attachment 1).
5. As with all regional and district plan reviews and plan changes, the Resource Management
Act (RMA) requires the council to prepare a report summarising the decisions requested in
submissions on the PAUP. This report is formally known as the Summary of Decisions
Requested Report (the summary report). Once completed, the summary report must be
notified to allow people to make further submissions. Accepting submissions after 30 April
2014 would either delay the notification of the summary report or mean that they are not
included in the report.
6. The RMA specifies that the following people or organisations can make a further
submission:
persons with an interest greater than the general public
persons that represent a matter of public interest.
7. Preparing the summary report for the PAUP is a huge task. Every decision requested in a
submission must be carefully summarised. Some submissions are only a page long,
however many seek dozens, if not hundreds of complex changes to the PAUP. The vast
majority of submissions were received in the last week of February. Since that time,
approximately 35 planners and 10 planning technicians/administrators have been working
full time on the report, with a number working considerable overtime. It will no doubt be the
largest summary report ever prepared under the RMA. At the time of preparing this report, it
is estimated that the summary report will be completed by the end of May. This will enable
the report to be notified for further submissions in early to mid-June.
Accessing Original Submissions and the Summary of Decisions Requested Report

8. The summary report will contain over 100,000 individual requests for decisions on the
PAUP. In order to make such a complex report meaningful, each point made in a submission
is coded to a theme and topic, and in some cases, a sub-topic. The coding framework is
included as Attachment 2. When published on the council website, submitters and others
will be able to view individual reports for each topic (and sub-topic) and a summary of all of
the decisions requested by each submitter. Scanned copies of the actual submissions
themselves will also be available on the website. The number of staff assigned to the Unitary
Plan enquiries team will be increased during the further submission period to assist people
in finding the information they are after.
9. Given the volume of submissions, it is recommended that the summary report is made
available at all council libraries (excluding those with insufficient display space), local board
offices and main service centres. In terms of the submissions themselves, is recommended
that they are only made available on the council website.
10. The estimated difference in cost of the recommended option versus an alternative of
providing hard copies of the summary report in all council libraries, local board offices and
service centres, and copies of the original submissions, is approximately $24,000 versus
$905,000.
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11. The key point to note is that under the recommended option, someone who wants the
council to provide a hard copy of a submission or submissions can request this via the
Unitary Plan enquiries line or email. The standard council printing costs would apply.

Update on the Unitary Plan Independent Hearing Panel

Structure and Staff Appointments

12. As the committee will be aware, the IHP was appointed by the Minister for the Environment
and Minister of Conservation late last year. More recently, council staff have been appointed
to support the IHP for the duration of the process. The support staff will manage the
administrative side of the hearings, including scheduling and programming topics for pre-
hearing meetings, mediation and hearing. This document outlines the role of the IHP support
team. The support team and IHP are temporarily working from Level 25, 135 Albert Street.
Premises for the IHP

13. Two floors (Levels 15 and 16) have been leased in premises at Tower 1, 205 Queen Street
to accommodate the IHP and support team. Two hearing rooms, and rooms for mediation
and conferencing, will be available on Level 16. These two floors are being refitted to
accommodate the IHP and support team and to enable hearings. The IHP and support team
anticipate they will relocate to these new premises at the end of June.
14. The number of people that can be accommodated on each level is 130 (to meet fire safety
requirements). As there are a large number of submitters on some PAUP topics, it is
anticipated that an alternative venue may need to be found for some hearings.

Hearing Procedures Document

15. A Hearing Procedures document is being developed by the IHP to provide direction to all
those participating in the hearing process on the overall principles and procedures that will
apply, and the role of support staff and Auckland Council. This document will be updated
from time to time through the hearings process. The Hearing Procedures document will be
uploaded to the IHP website in late May 2014.

Independent Hearing Panel Website

16. A website has been developed that provides information on the IHP and the hearing
process. It went live on 8 May. The website (www.aupihp.govt.nz) will be the main point of
reference for submitters throughout the hearing process and will provide:
information on the IHP
the hearing procedures
information on the hearings process (scheduling of pre-hearing meetings, mediation and
expert conferencing and hearings)
all relevant documents relating to hearings and any independent evidence obtained by
the IHP
a link/address to contact support staff.

17. The website will continuously be updated with information relating to hearings and the
hearing process, and submitters will be advised of the need to refer to the website for the
most up-to-date information on a hearing topic.
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Hearings Timetable

18. The IHP has given some initial thought to a hearings timetable, but is awaiting the release of
the summary report by the council before it can make final decisions on the order of pre-
hearing meetings and hearings and timing for when these will begin.

Committee Work Programme

19. At this stage it is not possible to confirm an overall work programme for the committee. The
work required will become much clearer once the IHP confirms the schedule of topics for
pre-hearing meetings and hearings. This having been said, it is anticipated that the IHP will
most likely want to consider submissions on the overall structure of the PAUP and the
strategic issues contained in the Regional Policy Statement chapter at the outset of the
process, before moving on to more detailed topics. It is therefore anticipated that reports to
the committee between now and the end of the year will focus on the Regional Policy
Statement, and address the councils overall strategy for topics such as the compact city, the
Rural Urban Boundary, economic development, infrastructure, rural Auckland, the coastal
environment, the natural environment, historic heritage, climate change and the Treaty of
Waitangi.
20. Submissions on the Auckland-wide provisions (e.g. noise, lighting and earthworks), zones
and overlays are likely to be considered next, followed by submissions on place-based
provisions (e.g. precincts), rezoning requests and designations. It is possible that there could
be a departure from this general sequence to enable topics of high public interest, or very
straight-forward topics, to be brought forward in the overall programme.
21. Once an initial programme is confirmed, staff will begin work on a series of presentations for
the committee to obtain direction on the councils response to the submissions. Formal
resolutions will often be required, and it is proposed that the scheduled committee meetings
commence as workshops before moving into the formal meeting format to enable this.
22. After initial pre-hearing meetings, it is possible that some topics may move on to formal
mediation prior to the hearings. The IHP is in the process of appointing qualified mediators.
In these cases, it will be important to set out the parameters within which council planning
staff are able to agree to amendments to the PAUP. In some cases it may be appropriate for
members of the committee to be delegated the authority to attend mediation and agree to
amendments discussed during mediation.

Submission Topics

23. In order to give the committee an early sense of the issues raised in submissions, a
statistical count of the number of points raised against the main topics in the submissions
coding framework referred to earlier in this report is included as Attachment 2. The top 30
topics by number of points raised are as follows:
Topic Number of
Submission
Points
Rezoning Central / Isthmus 8234
Residential zones General 5212
Rezoning South 4281
Rezoning - North and Islands 3193
Urban growth 2660
Business zones - General 2205
Transport - Auckland-wide provisions 2084
Rezoning West 1947
Overlay - Special character areas - Business and residential 1916
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Overlay - Historic heritage 1648
Volcanic view shafts survey coordinates 1377
Out of scope 1316
Regional Policy Statement - Mana Whenua 1263
Regional Policy Statement - Historic heritage, special character and natural
heritage 1217
Definitions 1174
General provisions 1109
Regional Policy Statement - Issues 1043
Subdivision Rural zones 1027
Subdivision General 824
Rural zones - General 805
Overlay pre-1944 demolition controls 755
Changes to the Rural Urban Boundary 750
Overlay - Lakes, rivers and streams and wetland and management areas 748
Public Open Space zone - General 736
Cultural impact assessment and accidental discovery protocols 711
Precincts - Devonport Peninsula 683
Stormwater 658
Overlay - Sites and Places of Value to Mana Whenua 655
Precincts - Bayswater 643
Regional Policy Statement - Economic / Business / Infrastructure / Energy /
Transport 638

24. It is important to note that topics with few submission points may still involve complex issues
that require considerable time and effort to work through.
Consideration
Local board views and implications
25. The view of local boards are able to be represented by the attendance of all local board
chairs at the Unitary Plan Committee.
Maori impact statement
26. It is considered that there are no specific impacts on Maori arising from any decisions made
by the Unitary Plan Committee in response to this report.
Implementation
27. The recommendations contained in this report can be implemented within the existing
Unitary Plan budget and staff resources. Should the committee wish to make hard copies
available of the submissions on the PAUP in all council libraries, local board offices and
service centres, additional funding would be required. Issues would also arise in terms of the
space available within libraries, local board offices and service centres to display the
submissions.

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Attachments
No. Title Page
A Section 135 - Local Government (Auckland Transitional Provisions) Act 13
B Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan - Coding Framework for Submissions 15

Signatories
Authors John Duguid Manager Unitary Plan
Authorisers Penny Pirrit - Regional & Local Planning Manager

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Attachment 1

Local Government (Auckland Transitional Provisions) Act
s135 Late submissions

(1) This section applies to submissions or further submissions received after the closing
date for those submissions.
(2) The chairperson of the Hearings Panel must decide whether to waive the requirement
to provide the submissions before that closing date in respect of each submission to
which this section applies.
(3) In making his or her decision, the chairperson must take into account

(a) the interests of any person who or that, in the chairperson's opinion, may be
directly affected by the waiver; and
(b) the need to ensure there is an adequate assessment of the effects of the
proposed plan; and
(c) the stage of the Hearing at which the Hearings Panel is provided with the
submissions.

(4) A decision of the chairperson under this section is final and there is no right of
objection or appeal against it.

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Unitary Plan Agenda May 2014

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Note: The reports contained within this agenda are for consideration and should not be construed as Council

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