Agenda of Hearing Panel - Tuesday, 7 May 2024

Hearing Panel

1. Functions:

· To conduct hearings and/or determine under delegated authority applications relating to the Dog Control Act 1996, all matters relating to Temporary Road Closures pursuant to Schedule 10 Clause 11(e) of the Local Government Act 1974, matters relating to naming features within the city, and any other matters required for determination by Council under legislation as determined by Council.

2. Membership:

· All elected members aside from the Mayor, in rotation. Each Hearing Panel will be made up of three members.

· The Chair of each Panel will be an elected member who has previously completed the ‘Making Good Decisions’ course.

· Each Hearings Panel will include no more than one elected member in their first triennium of Council

· The Group Manager Environmental Management may appoint one or more Independent Commissioners to either assist the Hearing Panel or to hear and determine any particular application, such as when Council or a Council-Controlled Organisation or Council-Controlled Trading Organisation is (or could be perceived to be) an interested party, other than applications made for temporary road closure under Schedule 10 Clause 11(e) of the Local Government Act 1974.

3. Powers to Decide:

· The power to appoint a panel to hear and determine with any other consent authority any application requiring a joint hearing

· The power to hear and recommend appropriate actions from hearings of designations and heritage orders

· The power to hear, consider and attempt to resolve contested road stopping procedures

· The power to consider and determine applications for temporary road closures made under Schedule 10 Clause 11(e) of the Local Government Act 1974

· The power to hear and determine all matters arising from the administration of the Building Act 1991, and the Building Act 2004

· The power to hear and determine objections to the classification of dogs, and all other procedural matters for which a right of objection and hearing is provided for under the Dog Control Act, 1996

· The power to name all features within the city requiring naming including roads, streets, service lanes, plazas, parking areas, parks, reserves, gardens and all public facilities or infrastructure, aside from those impacted by the Naming Rights and Sponsorship Policy for Community Services Facilities

· The power to provide advice to applicants on appropriate names for private roads, rights of way or other legal forms of private access to property

· The power to make changes to the schedules to the Parking and Vehicle Control Bylaw

· The power to administer the administering body functions under section 48 of the Reserves Act 1977 on proposed rights of way and other easements on reserves vested in Council.

Hearing Panel Minutes - 22 March 2024

Minutes of a meeting of the

Hearing Panel

Te Rōpū Rongonga

Held in the Council Chamber, Floor 2A, Civic House, 110 Trafalgar Street, Nelson on Friday 22 March 2024, commencing at 9.00a.m.

Present: Councillors T Skinner (Chair), M Courtney and A Stallard

In Attendance: Group Manager Environmental Management (M Bishop), Team Leader Governance (R Byrne) and Assistant Governance Adviser (A Bryce)

Apologies : Nil

Karakia and Mihi Timatanga

1. Apologies

2. Confirmation of Order of Business

There was no change to the order of business.

3. Interests

There were no updates to the Interests Register, and no interests with items on the agenda were declared.

4. Public Forum

There was no public forum.

5. Confirmation of Minutes

5.1 9 February 2024

Document number M20441, agenda pages 5 - 11 refer.

Resolved HEA/2024/001

That the Hearing Panel

1. Confirms the minutes of the meeting of the Hearing Panel, held on 9 February 2024, as a true and correct record.

Courtney/Stallard Carried

6. Objection to Classification of dog Max as Dangerous Richard (Ricky) Tasker

Document number R28207, agenda pages 12 - 24 refer.

Team Leader Regulatory, Chris Bascombe, and Animal Control Officer, Jeff Welch, supported by Group Manager Environmental Management, Mandy Bishop, took the report as read and answered questions on the breed and age of the dog Max, provided information on other dangerous dogs in Nelson and confirmed the process that led to the classification of Max as a dangerous dog.

Mr Bascombe and Mr Welch tabled supporting information regarding the previous incidents (tabled 83286773-47980) and explained that the terminology used was laid out in the legislation and could not be altered.

The Panel heard from the victim of the third incident, Mrs McLintock and the dog Max’s owners, Mr and Mrs Tasker.

Mrs McLintock spoke about her recollection of the incident and answered questions on whether or not she believed the dog was being friendly or aggressive whether or not the dog had leapt up onto her or her bike.

Mr and Mrs Tasker spoke about their dog Max and his background as a rescue dog who may have been ill treated by a past owner. They provided a statement from the late Mr Thomason’s (the dog walker) wife providing his comments when he had arrived home the day of the incident, noting all they wanted was to reduce the classification to “Menacing” as he had been well behaved, trained and obedient, and discussed how he had been startled by cyclists with saddlebags.

The meeting was adjourned from 10.07a.m. until 11.20a.m.

Reason for Decision

The Chairperson, Councillor Skinner, thanked the parties for attending and advised that the members had considered the reports and statements of all parties as presented.

He acknowledged the continued work and care undertaken by Mr and Mrs Tasker of the rescued dog Max.

He thanked Mrs McLintock for her affidavit and attending the meeting.

He advised the members had considered the objections to the Classification and had made a decision, the reasons for the decision were:

· The dog Max had a record of three attacks in a recent period.

· The need to protect the public was paramount.

· They accepted that Max may have suffered ill treatment in the past and could be scared at times, but the result of the attacks was more important for the public’s safety than the cause of the attacks.

· It was clear in legislation that a territorial authority must classify a dog as dangerous if there were reasonable grounds to believe that a dog was a threat to people.

Decision

The Panel dismissed the objection and upheld the classification of Max as a dangerous dog.

Resolved HEA/2024/002
	*That the Hearing Panel* *1. Receives the report Objection to Classification of dog Max as Dangerous Richard (Ricky) Tasker (R28207) and its attachments (832826773-47632, 832826773-47592 and 832826773-47593); and* *2. Dismisses the objection of Mr Tasker to the classification of dog Max as Dangerous; and* *3. Upholds the classification of dog Max as Dangerous.*
Skinner/Stallard Carried
Attachments 1 83286773-47980 Service Request 2320698 and 2322316 to Animal Control

Karakia Whakamutanga

There being no further business the meeting ended at 11.23a.m.

Confirmed as a correct record of proceedings by resolution on (date)

Resolved

Item 6: Traffic and Road Bylaw Updates - March 2024

Hearing Panel

7 May 2024

Report Title: Traffic and Road Bylaw Updates - March 2024

Report Author: Margaret Parfitt - Manager - Transport and Solid Waste

Report Authoriser: Alec Louverdis - Deputy Chief Executive / Group Manager Infrastructure

Report Number: R28347

1. Purpose of Report

1.1 To approve proposed updates of the Traffic and Parking Bylaw (2023) schedules to give effect to minor safety and parking improvements.

2. Recommendation

That the Hearing Panel

1. Receives the report Traffic and Parking Bylaw Updates (R28347) and its attachments (1355221503-18846, 1355221503-19907,1355321503-19909 and 1355321503- 19910); and

2. Approves amendments to Bylaw schedules as detailed in R28347 for:

a. Prohibition of parking on Pascoe Street (1355221503-18846); and

b. Prohibition of parking on Tahunanui and Annesbrook Drives (1355221503-19907); and

c. Prohibition of parking as part of the Streets for People Project in Motueka Street, Tipahi Street, Franklyn Street, and Kawai Street and Hampden Street West (1355321503- 19909); and

d. Pedestrian crossings at Motueka Street (1355321503- 19909); and

e. Pedestrian crossing at Songer Street (1355321503- 19910).

3. Background

3.1 The Traffic and Parking Bylaw (2023) allows for the Council, in accordance with part 2 of the bylaw, to make resolutions regarding the operation of Councils roading corridors. The Council has delegated this power to the Hearings Panel. To ensure that the Bylaw is enforceable it is important to ensure that all restrictions are approved by the hearing panel and updated in Councils schedules and public facing mapping system on a regular basis.

3.2 Section 4 of the report describes proposals that officers have considered and sought feedback on. It also includes officer recommendations on each proposal.

3.3 The proposed changes are shown for indicative purposes only by plans attached to this report. The purpose of these plans is to assist the Panel to understand the nature of the changes proposed. Any actual approved changes will be updated within the existing traffic restriction schedules and on the public facing web map which is under development.

4. Discussion

Prohibiting or Restricting Parking on Certain Roads

Under the Traffic and Parking Bylaw 2023 clause 27, Council may by resolution prohibit or restrict the parking of vehicles on any roads.

4.1 Pascoe Street

4.1.1 The bylaw schedules require updating to reflect work undertaken by the developer at Pascoe Street to give effect to a condition of resource consent (RM085213V6) as part of the next stage of the commercial development of The Junction, Annesbrook.

4.1.2 Resource consent (RM085213V6) for the development known as The Junction was secured by the original developers (Catal Developments) in 2008. That consent followed a Private Plan Change (Plan Change 6) that was publicly notified and approved in 2006 after receiving 23 submissions. As part of the consent, the access off Quarantine Road was upgraded as the main public entry/exit to Mitre 10. The consent required the access from Pascoe Street to be upgraded before the gross floor area of the development exceeded 25,500m2, and that limit has been reached with the retail businesses that opened in mid-March 2024, plus the planned new supermarket.

4.1.3 The access off Pascoe Street will accommodate both large delivery trucks and the public turning safely into The Junction. The access will enable those travelling from the north to access The Junction without using Quarantine Road Roundabout and Cadillac Way reducing the turning impacts from the planned full-scale development at this location, which is a vital link to the Airport, industrial area, the State Highway and three schools.

4.1.4 The developers’ contractors have completed works on Pascoe Street to allow for a right turn bay into the development that has removed 28 parks on the western side, one on the eastern side and 14m of P10 restricted parks on the eastern side.

4.1.5 To facilitate this, yellow no-stopping lines have been marked as follows - 83m on the western side of Pascoe Street and 35m on the eastern side of Pascoe Street (20m south of entrance and 15m north of entrance). Plans are appended as Attachment 1.

4.1.6 Changes to traffic layouts (such as this) approved as part of resource consent conditions whilst not the norm, is not unusual. The work on Pascoe Street is complete and needs to be included in the Bylaw schedules to be able to be enforced by Council parking wardens. This is in a way no different to where officers bring requests to the Hearings Panel for parking changes, seeking updates to the parking schedules, where the work has already been completed as part of capital works undertaken by Council.

4.1.7 This consent was applied for and granted a very long time ago – 16 years – and conditions imposed required need to be adhered to. Had the delay between approval of the consent and giving effect to it been known at the time of granting the consent more detailed conditions on the consultation requirements with nearby property owners could have been included. This would make the consultation responsibility and expectations clearer for any new owner or developer in the area.

4.1.8 The design represents industry good practice providing for a safe right turning lane from Pascoe Street.

4.1.9 Council has considered feedback from the adjacent businesses and tested how some parking can be safely retained. The current layout is the safest option and following monitoring Council could consider additional time limited parking outside businesses that rely on high turnover.

4.1.10 The developer was not required to undertake public consultation as part of the 2008 consent because the related earthworks and buildings were by that time a controlled activity in the Nelson Resource Management Plan 2008.

4.1.11 However, the condition to upgrade the Pascoe Street entrance has always been a condition of the consent. The developer, in preparation for this work, did advise the directly affected businesses before undertaking the work.

4.2 Tahunanui and Annesbrook Drive – Pedestrian refuges

4.2.1 In September 2023, as part of the Traffic and Parking Bylaw update, Council accepted a delegation that gave it the power of control of parking and stationary vehicle offences on State Highway. This allows Council to create parking bylaws on the State Highway putting in place stationary vehicle restrictions, as well as enforcing those bylaws. NZTA has approached Council with a request to include no stopping lines on Tahunanui and Annesbrook Drive, to support pedestrian refuges, as outlined below.

4.2.2 On-site engagement with immediately affected residential properties, and businesses was undertaken by NZTA. This took the form of providing properties with a copy of the proposed crossing and allowing them to provide feedback on the proposed changes.

4.2.3 Attachment 2 shows the two proposed locations and the car parking loss that will result from installation of no stopping lines. Officers recommend support for these restrictions.

4.3 Streets for People

4.3.1 In August 2022, Council was awarded funding from NZTA for a Streets for People Project in the Nelson South area. The project covered Tipahi Street (by the hospital and Broads playing fields), Franklyn Street towards Waimea Road, Kawai Street and Hampden Street West.

4.3.2 The Streets for People project focused on making it safer and easier for people to use active modes of transport by connecting safe streets in an area. It also aims to improve the liveability of streets for residents.

4.3.3 Comprehensive community engagement was carried out and directly affected residents and businesses kept fully informed throughout the project which is now completed.

4.3.4 Changes to Parking and Traffic controls carried out as part of these capital works are shown in Attachment 3 and include no stopping lines which require inclusion in the Bylaw schedules for enforcement purposes.

5. Pedestrian Crossings

5.1 Under the Traffic and Parking Bylaw 2023 clause 17.1, Council may by resolution determine the location of a pedestrian crossing on a road. Two new pedestrian/cycle crossings have recently been installed as part of safety improvement capital works and require inclusion in the schedules.

5.1.1 Motueka Street - Installed as part of the Streets for People project in Nelson South this crossing is a critical point in the Railway Reserve to Waimea Road active travel link. As discussed above extensive community engagement was carried out and the cycle and pedestrian zebra crossing on a raised platform with central median has been installed. Plans are shown on Attachment 3.

5.1.2 Songer Street - Songer Street, at the Railway Reserve, has an identified risk to safety for pedestrians and cyclists crossing due to traffic volumes and speeds. This resulted in Council approval for improvements to this crossing in the 2021 LTP. Business case processes, including extensive community engagement, identified the preferred option to be a cycle and pedestrian zebra crossing on a raised platform with central median. The project was completed in late 2023. Plans are appended as Attachment 4.

6. Options

6.1 The Hearing Panel may choose to Amend/not approve the proposed changes to schedules in te Traffic and Parking Bylaw set out in R28347.

6.2 Officers recommend Option 1, to adopt the proposed changes as officers recommend in 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 5.1.

Option 1: Adopt the proposed changes as officers recommend in 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, and 5.1
Advantages	· Proposed changes are designed to improve safety, and efficiency.
Risks and Disadvantages	· Minor loss of on-street parking.
Option 2: Do not adopt the proposed changes as officers recommend in 4.1, 4.2 , 4.3, and 5.1
Advantages	· There are no identified advantages.
Risks and Disadvantages	· Failure to approve changes will result in the continued unsafe and inefficient use of the roading network.

Attachments

Attachment 1: 1355221503-18846 Plans for Road and Parking Layout Change for Pascoe Street- The Junction ⇩

Attachment 2: 1355221503-19907 Tahunanui Drive and Annesbrook Drive Pedestrian refuges ⇩

Attachment 3: 1355321503- 19909 Streets for People overview ⇩

Attachment 4: 1355221503-19910 Songer Street raised crossing ⇩

Important considerations for decision making

Fit with Purpose of Local Government

The report recommendation meets current and future needs of communities in contributing to the safe use of the roading and parking network in the City.

Consistency with Community Outcomes and Council Policy

The content and recommendations of this report are consistent with Councils Community Outcomes – “Our Infrastructure is efficient, cost effective and meets current and future needs”. In particular that we have good quality, affordable and effective infrastructure, and transport networks.

This report is directly aligned to the requirements of the Parking Policy, the Traffic and Parking Bylaw and with Council’s strategic direction through the Regional Land Transport Strategy and Regional Public Transport Plan.

Risk

This is a low-risk decision as feedback has been sought from those affected by proposed changes.

Financial impact

Costs are within allocated budgets for roading improvements.

Degree of significance and level of engagement

This matter is of low significance. Businesses and residents that could be affected, have been consulted with their views considered.

Climate Impact

There are no direct climate impacts as a result of this report.

Inclusion of Māori in the decision making process

No engagement with Māori has been undertaken in preparing this report.

Legal context

This Bylaw was made pursuant to section 22AB of the Land Transport Act 1998.

The Council will review this Bylaw as and when it considers necessary. The bylaw review requirements in the Local Government Act 2002 do not apply to this Bylaw because it is not made under that Act.

Delegations

The Hearings Panel has the following delegations to consider changes to the Traffic and Parking Bylaw.

Powers to Decide:

· The power to make changes to the schedules to the Traffic and Parking Bylaw.