Bill raises fast-track risks for Hamilton, but also opportunities
New project fast tracking legislation presents major financial and infrastructure risks for Hamilton - but also opportunities - a city council committee has heard.
The strategic growth and district plan committee on Thursday signed off on a draft submission over the new Government’s controversial Fast Track Approvals Bill.
The bill’s designed to accelerate decisions on infrastructure and development projects with significant regional or national benefits.
But it’s also raised a wide range of concerns.
The Government is seeking proposals of projects to be included in legislation by early next month.
A staff report said it was likely “several major developers in and around the city” would seek to have projects considered for fast-tracking, while the council could also push to include projects.
But committee chairperson Sarah Thomson said some of the wording in the bill “feels pretty fast and loose and there’s lots of areas for improvement”.
The bill provides for fast-tracking decisions affecting Hamilton being made with less chance for city input.
Thomson asked city planning manager Mark Davey if there was a risk that the council could get itself “lumped with large infrastructure costs” for projects fasttracked via the new system.
“Yes, I think that’s a real risk,” said Davey, who’s been appointed to the expert advisory group making recommendations to the minister considering projects to be fast tracked.
Thomson hoped the Government would listen closely to the submission as the council was already under significant financial pressure dealing with existing growth..
“We certainly don’t want a situation where we end up picking up the tab for infrastructure...or the increased pressure on our infrastructure from projects.”
Any fast track approval process “must consider infrastructure at the heart of it and ensure that there is a way to fund that [in a manner which] doesn’t come back to our ratepayers”.
Asked about specific risks to Hamilton from the bill, Davey said expert panels assessing fast track applications were due to have a member from the relevant local council.
Significant projects in or near Hamilton were likely to cut across territorial authority boundaries but the city may not be on the panel considering them.
“They may well sit in Waipā, for example, or Waikato [district] but they may actually most acutely affect the city. So how do we make sure we’ve got a voice at that table?”
He said it would be sensible for the council to engage up front with potential fast track developments to help shape them to the city’s advantage.
Also, proposals around the city’s periphery which would rely on Hamilton’s infrastructure were likely.
It was important to ensure the city could charge the likes of development contributions and rates so that ultimately Hamilton is “not left out of pocket as a result of the costs of enabling some of this” in such areas.
Staff were reaching out to developers to see if they were looking at fast track applications.
“If so we will look to effectively work with them very closely upfront to try and get some good win-win outcomes.”
Davey said the ability to adjust council boundaries promptly was important.
“It will just saddle council with significant future costs and difficulty if we end up with [a] state where we have contiguous urban development alongside the the city that is not within the city’s jurisdictional control.”
Thomson said it was critical Hamilton was formally consulted when fast track projects straddled or were near the city boundary.
While she appreciated the bill’s intent, Thomson said:
“There needs to be a lot of work done on this between now and when it’s finalised to ensure that we’re not getting really poor outcomes or unanticipated outcomes.”