‘Perverse outcome’ dodged

Porirua City Council is following the lead of Wellington and Hutt city councils by removing minimum parking requirements from its Operative District Plan, dodging what it calls a ‘‘perverse outcome’’ to its goal of improving housing stock.

The National Policy Statement – Urban Development (NPS UD), which came into effect in August last year, was aimed at enabling urban growth, alleviating the housing crisis and improving social and economic outcomes, a Porirua council report said.

The statement required councils to remove provisions for a minimum number of on-site car parks from district plans through a non-notified process, to allow more intensive urban development with less space taken up by car parks, leading to better utilisation of urban land.

The NPS UD directs councils to enable intensification in and around city centres and within walkable catchments of rapid transit stops, including railway stations.

A report issued to councillors indicated some housing developers were ‘‘holding off’’ on moving forward with projects, because the Operative District Plan still had minimum parking requirements specified in it.

‘‘This is a perverse outcome that works against council’s goal of increasing housing supply and helping to alleviate the housing crisis,’’ a council report read.

During a discussion at Thursday’s Te Puna Ko¯ rero full council meeting, the council’s general manager of policy, planning and regulatory services, Stewart McKenzie, was asked what the implications of the proposed variation would mean in practice.

‘‘Anecdotally, developers were still looking to provide parking – just not as much,’’ McKenzie said.

‘‘Currently, [with] the Operative District Plan, you have to have two spaces per residential unit. What we’re seeing is developers looking at providing one. And I’d say hopefully – once we get some residential activity in the central city – we could see less than that. In fact, we’ll need to because we simply can’t fit parking in,’’ McKenzie explained.

As a result of the change, there was an expectation that there would be increased pressure on on-street parking, which was ‘‘something we’ll need to monitor closely’’.

Councillors voted unanimously to approve the variation to the Operative District Plan.