PLAN CURBS SUBDIVIDE DREAM
Changes to housing regulations in Marlborough’s newly minted ‘‘master plan’’ could make subdividing less likely, despite ‘‘infill’’ on large sections being touted as a solution for Blenheim’s housing shortage.
The construction industry had hoped the long-awaited Proposed Marlborough Environment Plan would reinvigorate Blenheim’s housing sector. The behemoth document, which fuses three of the Marlborough District Council’s management plans into one, was released on Thursday.
Housing companies and surveyors called for ‘‘reduced bureaucracy’’ during consultation on the plan, suggesting changes to make it easier and less expensive to add to Blenheim’s housing supply.
But the final version appeared to have the opposite effect, with main players fearing landowners would be deterred from subdividing due to more stringent regulations.
The plan has increased the minimum size of properties in much of Blenheim’s suburbs from 400 square metres to 450sqm.
Gilbert Haymes Associates surveyor Tony Hawke said people buying a property in town to subdivide into two sections would now need nearly 1000sqm.
‘‘The council has been saying there’s heaps of land that can be subdivided in town, because there’s not enough land available for new builds, but this has actually made it worse, they’ve depleted the number of properties that can be subdivided,’’ Hawke said.
‘‘A lot of people buy sections thinking they will subdivide it in the future. People aren’t possibly going to invest if they don’t know they can subdivide.’’
Hawke also submitted on rural boundaries, arguing two consenting neighbours should be allowed to adjust their boundaries without having to get consent, and the reviewing panel ‘‘relented’’ to keep the condition for some rural properties.
‘‘It just means in a rural area if one farmer wants to get rid of some land, the neighbouring farmer can grab it through a boundary adjustment ... So that was a small win.’’
Hawke was also one of several industry players who called for the removal of a standard preventing multiple dwellings from being built on one land title.
‘‘From the previous plan there was no restriction on multiple dwellings, provided site density and access requirements are met,’’ Hawke said.
The panel agreed existing requirements were enough and the section was changed to allow multiple dwellings on one site, without subdivision.
Last year the council said it was encouraging infill, or the subdivision of front or back yards of existing sections, as a way to boost Blenheim’s housing stock in the face of a housing shortage.
Hawke said he feared the plan’s changes would make infill less likely to happen. People were already reluctant to develop property due to the cost, he said.
‘‘It has put people off, and you can see in Marlborough the number of developers has dropped down to a handful. No-one’s being attracted to the game. For people who have a bit of money, property is usually one of the things they look at.’’
Two new blocks of land had been zoned as residential; on the corner of Battys Rd and New Renwick Rd, and on Alabama Rd opposite Mitre 10.
That would eventually boost Blenheim’s housing supply by hundreds of houses, ‘‘although we don’t know how long that will take’’, Hawke said.
The new land bolstered the residential growth zone to the northwest of Blenheim along Old Renwick Rd and Rene St, although Hawke noted linking infrastructure that far was yet to happen.
Peter Ray Homes franchisee Donna Lee said she agreed several parts of the plan were actually making it harder for people to subdivide.
Hers was one of four construction companies to submit on the plan, as the shortage of sections meant business had slowed and she was worried about job security for her staff and contractors, she said.
‘‘Other than our office staff, all our contractors they all have staff as well, and they rely on housing companies to get work, and things like taking on an apprentice, they are second guessing that because we don’t know where the work will come from.’’
Along with boundary adjustment and minimum section sizes, the regulations around recession planes would also make it harder for dense building in central Blenheim, she said.
Recession planes dictated how close tall houses and garages could be to a shared boundary. Previously buildings could be 2.3m tall at the boundary and the recession plane allowed for a gradual incline away from the boundary.
But the new plan reduced the recession plane’s boundary height to 2m, which meant garages taller than that had to be set back from the boundary, leaving little space for a house and garden on a small section.
Any disputes with the final copy of the Proposed Marlborough Environment Plan were to be filed with the Environment Court.
Hawke said he was very unlikely to pursue any changes that far.
‘‘You’ve got to jump through some more bureaucratic hoops to get what you want. It’s one of those things when new plans come out, if people have the money they can push it through to the Environment Court, that’s the only way these plans get changed,’’ he said.
‘‘But it does happen; Westwood shopping centre did it, and Omaka Landing.’’
Westwood failed to get consent in 2007, amid concerns it would draw shoppers away from the CBD, but that was overturned in 2010 by an Environment Court judge after the size was reduced.
The Omaka Landing subdivision was originally zoned rural but after the Marlborough District Council refused to rezone the area as residential in 2012, the Environment Court overturned that ruling.
‘‘People aren’t possibly going to invest if they don’t know they can subdivide.’’
Tony Hawke Gilbert Haymes Associates surveyor