PORIRUA PLAN
Ka¯ inga Ora wants Porirua City Council to introduce a highdensity residential housing zone which could see buildings of ‘‘at least six storeys’’ allowed in several suburbs including floodprone Plimmerton.
While Porirua is suffering a significant housing shortage, Plimmerton Residents’ Association chairman Roger Watkin isn’t convinced buildings of that stature will ‘‘complement’’ the seaside community’s character.
The zone request from the Crown’s public housing agency was made when the council sought feedback on the city’s proposed District Plan last year.
Details of the request only came to light in a public notice in Tuesday’s Dominion Post, summarising requests made during the District Plan submissions process, and asking for further submissions from the public.
The District Plan, a key statutory planning document publicly notified last August, essentially controls where activities can take place and how land can be used, developed and subdivided.
More than 270 submissions were received on the plan, with the deadline for more submissions closing on May 11. Hearings on the plan, to be conducted by an independent panel of qualified commissioners, will take place late this year.
While the proposed District Plan doesn’t include a high-density residential zone, Ka¯ inga Ora wants to see one enabling residential buildings of at least six storeys in suburbs including, but not limited to Pukerua Bay, Plimmerton, Camborne, Paremata, Takapu¯ wa¯ hia, Elsdon and Kenepuru.
However, Watkin felt sixstorey buildings wouldn’t be in keeping with the ‘‘beachy village’’ character of Plimmerton, and that most residents would be ‘‘against’’ such developments.
‘‘I think a six-storey thing would deter from what we’ve actually got from Plimmerton which is quite a nice seaside village, and I don’t think we need high-rises to complement it,’’ Watkin said.
Ka¯ inga Ora Greater Wellington region regional director Greg Groufsky said its submission took into account more than the delivery of public housing, but also a broader focus on urban development.
Porirua was experiencing an increased housing need. Ka¯ inga
Ora’s approach in seeking District Plan changes was to ‘‘enable sufficient development capacity’’ for a range of housing types in locations which had good access to transport networks and local services, Groufsky said.
Plimmerton’s inclusion has come despite the area being at risk of flooding, with the last major flood in November, 2020, leaving several homes uninhabitable.
Porirua City Council environment and city planning manager Stewart McKenzie said the current plan included comprehensive flood hazard maps for Plimmerton, and other floodprone areas of the city.
However, Ka¯ inga Ora opposed the maps’ inclusion in the proposed District Plan.
‘‘The purpose of flood-hazard maps and rules is to avoid new housing and other sensitive developments being located in high flood-hazard areas, and to mitigate the effect of flooding on existing areas,’’ McKenzie said.
Watkin worried large residential buildings would exacerbate the flooding risk, and wanted officials to instead deal with the current infrastructure issues, rather than add to them.
Groufsky acknowledged that ‘‘certain areas of Porirua are more at risk from natural hazards than others’’, and flood management was dynamic.
‘‘We have sought that hazards, such as flooding, should be subject to management based on the most current information available ... rather than mapped information that is fixed in place through this process,’’ Groufsky said.
With projections that as many as 29,000 people could move into Porirua in the next 30 years, the need for as many as 11,000 new homes has been identified.
Ka¯ inga Ora is already working with the community, council and local iwi Nga¯ ti Toa Rangatira on efforts to replace around 2000 state houses with around 4000 new homes, including state, market and ‘‘more affordable housing’’ in eastern Porirua.
Last month, Ka¯inga Ora announced the completion of the $20.4 million Castor Crescent housing development, adding 53 social housing properties to Cannons Creek. Ka¯ inga Ora was also working with Nga¯ ti Toa to improve public housing in western Porirua, the agency’s Porirua development website said.