MINUTES

of the

 Joint Committee of Nelson City
and Tasman District Councils Meeting

Komiti Motuhake o Ngā Kaunihera

held

1.30 pm, Wednesday, 27 July 2022

Tasman District Council Chamber and

Via Zoom

 

 

 

Present:                  Tasman District Council: Mayor T King, Deputy Mayor S Bryant,
Councillors C Butler, B Dowler, M Greening (via Zoom), C Hill (via Zoom),
K Maling, C Mackenzie, D McNamara, D Ogilvie, T Tuffnell (via Zoom), A Turley (via Zoom) and T Walker


Nelson City Council: Mayor R Reese, Deputy Mayor J Edgar (via Zoom),
Councillors Y Bowater (via Zoom), T Brand (via Zoom), M Courtney (via Zoom), K Fulton (via Zoom), M Lawrey (via Zoom), B McGurk (via Zoom),
R O’Neill-Stevens (via Zoom), P Rainey (via Zoom), R Sanson (via Zoom) and T Skinner (via Zoom)

 

                                 Iwi representative – Ina Kumeroa Kara-France (Via Zoom)

In Attendance:        Tasman District Council:  Acting Chief Executive Officer (L Rae), Urban Growth Coordinator (J Deans) (Via Zoom),  Acting Group Manager – Service and Strategy (D Fletcher), Senior Legal Advisor (L Townshend), Democracy Services Advisor (E Stephenson), Policy Planner (M Bengosi), Legal and Democracy Services Manager (J McFarlane), Environmental Policy Manager (B Johnson), Senior Infrastructure Planning Advisor (D Bryant), Policy Planner (P Webby), Consent Planner – Subdivisions (B Wayman), Senior Resource Scientist – Land and Soil (M Langford), Team Leader – Urban and Rural Policy (J Butler), Senior Legal Advisor (M Callander), Senior Resource Scientist – Hazards (G Stevens), Principal Planner (K Fletcher), Communications and Change Manager (C Choat), Communications Officer
(T O’Connell), Senior Policy Planner (M Honey), Senior Policy Planner (D Worthy), Policy Planner (A McKenzie), Executive Assistant to the Mayor (R Scherer) and Executive Support Officer (G Drummond)


Nelson City Council: Group Manager Environmental Management
(C Barton) (Via Zoom) Group Manager Strategy and Communications
(N McDonald) (Via Zoom), Senior Analyst – Strategy and Environment
(C Pawson) (Via Zoom) and Project Manager – Environmental Management (N Ching)

                                 Barker and Associates:       C Wallace and R Morgan

                                 DLA Piper:                            K Anderson

                                 Simpson & Grierson:          M Wakefield                                                  

 

1        Opening, Welcome

Chairperson, Mayor Reese welcomed everyone to the meeting and offered the opening karakia.

 

2        Apologies and Leave of Absence

 

Moved Mayor Reese/Deputy Mayor Bryant

JCN22-07-7

That apologies from Councillor G Noonan be accepted.

CARRIED

 

 

3        Declarations of Interest

Tasman District Council Deputy Mayor Bryant noted his interest in site T108 Wakefield which is included in the Future Development Strategy and which is a property adjoining his private land.

 

 

4        Confirmation of minutes

Nil

5        public forum

Nil

6        Reports

 

Future Development Strategy 2022-2052 – Acceptance of Policy Decisions (R26951)

Mike Wakefield, Partner Local Government and Environment, Simpson Grierson provided a PowerPoint presentation to outline the councils’ decision-making requirements under the the Local Government Act.

Mr Wakefield answered questions regarding his presentation.

Mr Wakefield left the meeting at 2.14 pm.

Nelson City Council Senior Analyst, Chris Pawson and Tasman District Council Urban Policy Planner, Jacqui Deans presented the report. Mr Pawson noted that Ms Deans should have been included as co-author of the report.

Ms Deans noted two amendments to the draft resolution:

·         Draft resolution 1 should refer to the name of the report as “acceptance of policy decisions (R26951)” not “adoption of policy decisions”.

·    Draft resolution 3, 4 and 5 – reference to the words “final Future Development Strategy” should read “draft Future Development Strategy”.

In introducing the draft strategy, Ms Deans noted the significant number of submissions received which indicated how well-engaged the community was in terms of future development in the Nelson-Tasman region. She also referred to the complexity of issues which were managed as part of the FDS process.

The draft resolution was moved by Councillor McGurk, seconded by Deputy Mayor Bryant.

The elected members discussed the following facets of the draft strategy:

·         Climate change impacts, including meeting the legilsated requirements for greenhouse gas emission reductions;

·         The use of Rural-1 land in Tasman District for future development;

·         The timing of FDS reassessments (every three years);

·         The staging principles for the FDS;

·         The implementation plan for the FDS;

·         The scope of the FDS and the ability to include new sites or amend sites previously noted in the consultation document;

·         The status of the FDS as a policy document;

·         Greenfield developments, intensification and the use of productive land;

·         Affordability in terms of the location of the proposed FDS sites;

·         Accessibility of sites proposed in the FDS;

·         The status of the Plan Change for housing intensification in Nelson City. It was noted that this would be presented to Nelson City Council in September 2022;

·         The option of using large urban spaces such as car parking areas in central Nelson for housing. Ms Deans advised that an example of this type of residential development above a commercial space was proposed in the FDS as part of site T206 in Hickmott Place, Motueka;

·         The multi-criteria analysis used to rank sites to be included in the FDS;

·         The difference in land area between Nelson City and Tasman District including growth capacity;

·         The need for the councils to take the FDS into account when approving private plan changes;

·         Both councils’ ongoing discussions with mana whenua;

Councillor Greening, seconded by Councillor McNamara proposed an amendment to the resolution, by way of an addition, as follows:

“for the purposes of clarity, this FDS removes all Rural-1 land in Tasman District”

Cr Walker left the meeting at 3.01 pm.

In response to the proposed amendment, Tasman District Council Strategic Policy Manager, Dwayne Fletcher explained that if the Rural-1 land was removed, the councils would not meet the objectives of the FDS and this would also undermine its integrity. Barker & Associates Partner, Cam Wallace also noted that the removal of Rural-1 land would result in 3,500 homes not being built in Nelson-Tasman.

The meeting adjourned at 3.08 pm and resumed at 3.20 pm.

The Chairperson, Mayor Reese advised the meeting that the proposed amendment to the resolution would undermine the FDS and not meet the required objectives. She therefore ruled that the proposed amendment be rejected. 

Debate on the motion included: 

·         The FDS was a living document and it would be a standing item on future Joint Committee agendas;

·         The Joint Committee sub-committee spent a considerable amount of time reviewing and considering every submission as part of its deliberations;

·         The current housing shortage in New Zealand, including the issue of housing affordability, noting that the provision of housing was the top priority in all central government strategies;

·         Underlying assumptions within the FDS ;

·         Addressing the kind of housing that the community wants;

·         The significant amount of greenfield development proposed in the FDS;

·         The FDS would allow for a range of housing options including co-housing, inter-generational housing and intensification.

·         Housing preference surveys showed that people do not want to live in intensified areas, but were happy for other people to do so.

In summarising the discussions, the Chairperson, Mayor Reese reminded the Joint Committee that the Future Development Strategy would be adopted at the Joint Committee meeting on 29 August 2022.

Mayor Reese acknowledged Ms Kara-France for her valuable contribution to the FDS hearing and deliberations process. She also acknowledged the significant contribution by staff from both councils and the consultants involved in developing the FDS.

Moved Councillor McGurk/Deputy Mayor Bryant

JCN22-07-2

That the Joint Committee of Tasman District and Nelson City Councils:

1.       receives the report Future Development Strategy 2022-2052 - Acceptance of Policy Decisions (R26951) and its attachments (1 – Recommendations on policy decisions from the Joint Committee Subcommittee, 2 – Officers' report of 31 May 2022 to the Subcommittee with the above attachments (Provided electronically only due to the file sizes), 3 – Minutes from the three days of deliberations hearings, 4 – revised Green House Gas emissions modelling memo provided by Tasman District Council officers to the Subcommittee during deliberations, 5 – two supplementary memos of information provided by officers to the Subcommittee during deliberations, 6 - Revised multi criteria analysis assessment including new sites, 7 - Memo on implementation of the Future Development Strategy); and

2.       accepts the recommendations of the Joint Committee Subcommittee as detailed in the recommendations that are provided in attachment 1; and

3.       notes that the Joint Committee Subcommittee agreed that the deliberations report, the attachments and supplementary officer advice provided in response to questions from the Subcommittee, provided the information required by the Subcommittee to make fully informed recommendations to the Joint Committee of the Nelson City and Tasman District Councils on the draft Future Development Strategy; and

4.       directs officers to include in the draft Future Development Strategy 2022-2052 (FDS) the matters in attachment 1 and instructs officers to amend the relevant FDS documents to give effect to these matters: and

5.       notes that officers will prepare principles to guide the staging and rollout of development areas for inclusion in the draft Future Development Strategy and that these principles will be used in the preparation of the implementation plans; and

6.       notes that infrastructure providers will be consulted during the preparation of implementation plans referred to in Recommendation 5 and that the implementation plans will include preparation of neighbourhood and structure plans; and

7.       recommends to both councils that they explore the use of Inclusionary Zoning and consider plan provisions that require a range of section sizes, while retaining flexibility over housing typologies built, in housing plan changes and/or plan reviews; and

8.       acknowledges that there have been a number of requests and proposals in submissions that have not been addressed by specific decisions as a result of this report and agrees not to make any changes in response to those submissions which have not been outlined in the earlier parts to this resolution; and

9.       notes that submitters will each receive a response to their submission; and

10.     notes, in accordance with section 80 of the Local Government Act 2002, that the Joint Committee Subcommittee’s Future Development Strategy recommendations to the Joint Committee of the Tasman District and Nelson City Councils, contain inconsistencies with the existing policy in the following Council strategies and plans:

A)  Tasman District Council’s Richmond and Motueka Town Centre Parking Strategy 2018 (the Parking Strategy). The inconsistency arises due to the Future Development Strategy identifying the carpark at Hickmott Place, Motueka for use as mixed use commercial and residential purposes, which is consistent with the zoning of the land, but is not consistent with the Parking Strategy which retains its use as a carpark.  The reason for the inconsistency is to enable sufficient supply of housing to meet demand within Motueka township and the wider Tasman and Nelson regions in accordance with the requirements of the National Policy Statement on Urban Development to respond to growth.  The Tasman District Council will consider amending the Parking Strategy when it is next reviewed; and

B)  Nelson City Council’s Tahunanui Structure Plan 2004 (the Structure Plan).  The inconsistency arises due to the Future Development Strategy proposing increases to the levels of residential intensification and increases to the heights for housing developments in the Tahunanui area, which are inconsistent with the intensities and heights of development in the Structure Plan.  The reason for the inconsistency is to enable sufficient supply of housing to meet demand within the wider Tasman and Nelson regions in accordance with the requirements of the National Policy Statement on Urban Development to respond to growth.  The Nelson City Council will consider replacing the Structure Plan when it prepares the neighbourhood plan for the Tahunanui area or when a plan change is prepared; and

C)  Nelson City Council’s Nelson Urban Growth Strategy 2004 (Growth Strategy).  The inconsistency arises due to the Growth Strategy containing out of date growth projections which are inconsistent with the projections contained in the Future Development Strategy.  The reason for the inconsistency is to enable sufficient supply of housing to meet demand within the wider Tasman and Nelson regions in accordance with the requirements of the National Policy Statement on Urban Development to respond to growth.  The Nelson City Council is not proposing to update the Growth Strategy, as the document will be replaced by the new Future Development Strategy; and

D)  Tasman District Council and Nelson City Council’s 2019 adopted Future Development Strategy. The inconsistency arises due to the requirement to enable sufficient supply of housing and business land to meet demand within the region, in accordance with the requirements of the National Policy Statement on Urban Development to respond to growth. A different spatial growth pattern is proposed and hence some different sites. The 2022 Future Development Strategy, if adopted would replace the 2019 Future Development Strategy; and

E)  Recommends to both Councils that they give consideration to how to support the Future Development Strategy intensification goals through land aggregation including working with Kāinga Ora; and

F)   Recommends to both Councils that there is alignment of their Growth Strategies in terms of modelling and timing; and

G)  Agrees to the Joint Committee Subcommittee recommendation that the implementation of the FDS is a standing item on the Joint Committee’s agenda; and

11.     notes the importance of neighbourhood plans for the successful implementation of the Future Development Strategy; and

12.     recommends that officers report back, as a priority, to Nelson City Council on the options for preparing neighbourhood plans to feed into the Nelson Housing Plan Change process; and

13.     recommends to Nelson City Council that it provides additional resources to enable the neighbourhood plans to be completed; and

14.     notes that Tasman District Council is undertaking structure planning for its key neighbourhood areas as part of its plan change and plan review processes.

 

CARRIED

Attachment 1   Future Development Strategy Process Presentation

 

 

7        Confidential Session

Nil

 

Mayor King offered the closing karakia.

 

The meeting concluded at 4.47 pm.

 

In accordance with Nelson City Council Standing Orders these minutes were electronically confirmed at the 29 August 2022 Joint Committee Meeting.

                                                                      

 

That the Joint Committee of Tasman District and Nelson City Councils

1.     Confirms the minutes of the Joint Committee of Nelson City and Tasman District Councils, held on 27 July 2022, as a true and correct record.