Council, developers at odds over Drury
‘‘The development of Drury is an opportunity to do things differently as we basically build a new city in a greenfield area. ’’ Andy Baker Franklin Ward councillor
Auckland Council is looking to collect $1.1 billion off developers in Drury over the next 30 years to pay for infrastructure.
But affected developers aren’t keen on the council’s proposed development contributions and a new report to the council this week suggests opponents could seek a judicial review.
The Drury-Ōpaheke area is expected to see 22,000 new houses over the next 30 years, which Auckland Council said would require $2.9b in infrastructure for everything from new community facilities to transport, stormwater and wastewater upgrades.
Under the Auckland Council proposal, the average development contribution per home in the area would increase from an average of $22,564 to $83,251.
The proposal went out for public consultation in September last year and council is expected to vote on adopting it in April.
A summary of the submissions was presented to the council on Thursday and said developers claimed higher development contributions would lead to higher house prices as they would seek to recover costs.
‘‘Developers who had already purchased land commented that they will be particularly disadvantaged as the increased development contributions have not been included in the costs of their development.’’
They also said it would discourage the construction of affordable housing and may encourage land banking.
‘‘Some submitters expressed a view that the proposal is not legally compliant and that there may be a case for a judicial review.’’
Auckland Franklin ward councillor and Drury resident Andy Baker said it was important that the council got the policy right with so much at stake.
But he said the developers and the new residents who benefit from the area’s growth needed to pay their fair share for the infrastructure.
‘‘The development of Drury is an opportunity to do things differently as we basically build a new city in a greenfield area,’’ he said.
Auckland
Papakura Ward
Manurewacouncillor
Daniel Newman said if developers wanted to take legal action against the council it’s their right.
‘‘But if we are going to make future growth areas like Drury available for development there is going to be a cost to the developers.’’
Newman said the Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods and Cyclone Gabrielle showed new developments would have to take into account the real cost of the infrastructure needed to adapt to climate change.
Developer Charles Ma said it’s important that the proposed development contributions were used to fund infrastructure evenly across the whole area.
He is the chief executive of Ma Development Enterprises (MADE) and the managing director of the Auranga development, a subdivision on the outskirts of Drury West.
Ma didn’t want to be drawn on whether he would take legal action against the council over the development contributions policy. But he said there was a need for infrastructure in the area and it was one way to fund it.
‘‘So I’m willing to do what’s fair and reasonable,’’ Ma said.
But he said the council’s policy could have unintended consequences. ‘‘I would expect new houses in the area to be more expensive and I think we will see a natural slowdown in development in the area.’’
❚ Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.