ICW Demystifier: about the Proposed District Plan & The Independent Hearing Panel’s Recommendations

These are images of ‘our patch’ - created to help the public understand the proposed zoning that was in the Proposed District Plan (PDP) and the changes the Independent Hearing Panel’s (IHP) made in their recommendations.

The PDP was put out for consultation and many people and organisations submitted their thoughts, suggestions and responses.
The people who listened to all of these were the members of the Independent Hearing Panel (IHP). They were appointed for their ability to understand and assess the complex nature of the District Plan.

What’s happened so far?

After a lengthy journey that started back in 2017, the Wellington City Council put forward a Proposed District Plan for consultation. It’s been suggested that there were three thousand submitters on the 2021 Spatial Plan, a thousand on the 2022 Proposed District Plan (PDP) and hundreds speaking to the 2023 Independent Hearings Panel (IHP).

This means that many people and organisations over several years have submitted their thoughts, suggestions and responses - both in writing and by attending the hearings to speak. The IHP was asked to consider the submissions and they did this, and then wrote a series of recommendations reports making up of several thousand pages.

To help the Council understand their recommendations, the IHP provided a series of Councillor briefings in February and March of this year which you can read about here. Because the District Plan is extensive, the reports are organised under a series of headings - from topics such as Zoning as well as Natural Hazards, Three Waters, Noise, Earthworks and Subdivision.

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Why are there two maps - and what do the colours mean?

  • The map on the left is from the Council’s Proposed District Plan (PDP). The dark areas show where upzoning - medium to high-rise buildings (for example 6-12 storeys, perhaps more) - could be built. The cross-checked areas are where areas that reflect the character of the city are protected..

  • The map on the right is from the Independent Hearings Panel recommendations. After the IHP listened to public submissions, it recommended some changes to the Council’s map. You’ll see that amongst the tweaks, the cross-checked areas have increased - particularly in Mt Victoria and Mt Cook.

You can see the maps side by side, and see extra explanatory information, here.

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What changes would happen in ‘our patch’?

‘Our patch’ is part of what is called the “City Centre Zone”. This IHP report talks about what is planned. For example, here’s an extract from the recommendations:

To maximise development capacity to accommodate projected growth, an increase in the scale and intensity of development is enabled across the zone, including through the removal of maximum building heights.

This includes building height, density and urban form tailored to align with the outcomes sought by the National Policy Statement – Urban Development (NPSUD) and to reflect the higher, denser nature of development within the City Centre Zone.

To complement this, the Zone also contains measures to ensure that buildings and spaces are designed to:

• be of accessible and of a good quality;

• positively contribute to public space and built form of the City Centre; City Centre Zone IHP's Recommended Amendments: 02/02/2024 Page 2 of 32

• offer a suitable level of amenity for users such as access to sunlight and open space;

• provide opportunities for active and passive recreational pursuits; and

• mitigate relevant adverse effects.

To ensure the continued vibrancy and viability of the City Centre Zone, a wide range of activities are permitted and encouraged throughout most parts of the Zone.

This is supported by measures to manage activities and development that have the potential to adversely affect public and private amenity or to create reverse sensitivity effects, including along the boundary with adjoining residentially zoned areas or identified public space.

In locations where rapid transit investment has been signalled, measures have been included to enable opportunities for more intensive, comprehensive development to occur, particularly in areas within a walkable distance catchment of planned rapid transit stops.

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How much housing is needed to match projected growth?

The National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPSUD) requires the Council to consider housing needs for the next 30 years. When considering what this means, this recent Scoop article attempts to explain what is needed. Here are some extracts:

  • “… The capacity provided by the IHP package is massive …the IHP’s recommended plan has enough to serve 30-year demand 14 times over.

  • “… In his evidence to the IHP, WCC’s expert Philip Osborne advised that there would be a “theoretical” zoning capacity of 239,025 new homes in the PDP with some 77,478 of those already profitable to build and a subset of 62,979 (or one in four) deemed “realisable”:…”

  • “…Since only 35,928 homes are forecast to be demanded (31,242 for people and the rest for a compulsory buffer), there is more than enough to have generous character areas and still fit within the 30 year requirement of the government’s National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPSUD)…”

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What do people think about the Proposed District Plan and the subsequent Independent Hearing Panel’s recommendations?

Democracy is messy.

  • Some love the original Council’s Proposed District Plan and map. They like that it allowed more land to be upzoned for medium and high rise buildings - in particular in Mt Victoria and Mt Cook. They believe this will exceed expected housing needs. They believe more housing is a good thing. They believe as much of the city zoned for medium and high rise buildings as possible is important because this will lead to more affordable housing. They believe protecting character areas of the city is not as important as enabling medium to high rise buildings to be constructed in these zones. They want more housing so that the city can expand and be enjoyable and affordable, and be welcoming for all.

  • Some love the Independent Hearing Panel recommendations and map. They liked some of the IHP recommendations and that it allowed more land to be upzoned for medium and high rise buildings. They believe this will exceed expected housing needs. They believe more housing is a good thing. They like that some extra areas were zoned to help retain the character of the city - for example, in Mt Victoria and Mt Cook. They believe that addressing high insurance and interests costs for construction, rather than reducing character areas, are the key to enable developers to build affordable housing. They want more housing so that the city can expand and be enjoyable and affordable, and be welcoming for all.

Whichever way the future District Plan goes - there will be more areas of the city zoned for medium (6 storeys) and high-rise (12 storeys and more) buildings.

14 March 2024 update.
The Council met and voted to challenge some of the IHP recomendations. They have prepared a range of amendments. They will need to support these amendments with evidence. These will go to the Hon Chris Bishop, Minister for Housing, for a final decision.

What happens next?

The Councillors meet on Thursday 14 March to discuss the Proposed District Plan (PDP) taking into account the Independent Hearing Panel’s (IHP) recommendations.

If they agree with the recommendations, the PDP will progress. If they wish to contest the IHP’s recommendations, the Council will need to provide expert evidence to support their view. Then it would move to a central government Minister to adjudicate. It was going to be the Minister for the Environment who would make the final decision, but that process has been changed. The Minister for Housing will now be the decision-maker. Once the Minister makes a decision, there is no process for appeal.

Is there a timeline showing the process that got us to this point?

Yes. On this Wellington City Council page, you can see a handy timeline that shows the stages of the process that started back in 2017.