Great Barrier Island issues and options

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Residential Land Unit - Great Barrier Island

Issue

The primary areas of existing residential development on Great Barrier Island are located at Tryphena, Medlands and Claris-Kaitoke. The Tryphena and Medlands residential areas each have Strategic Management Areas (SMAs) and policy areas overlaying the land unit classifications. Land Units 3, 5 and 8 are applied to the majority of sites within these areas.

There is other residential development at Okupu, Whangaparapara, Port Fitzroy and Okiwi. Land units 5 and 8 are applied to most sites in these areas. There is also a policy area overlaying the land unit classifications at Port Fitzroy.

The issues around the need for a residential land unit can be assessed in two parts; the need to provide more land for residential development and the need to provide better District Plan provisions for existing residential development.

More land for residential development

Great Barrier is not a 'growth area' and has a declining population. Therefore, it would seem that there is no pressing demand for more land for residential development. The exception to this may be the increasing number of "off islanders" purchasing land for holiday homes, which may mean that there is a demand for more land for residential development around holiday home areas such as Medlands.

Better District Plan provisions for existing residential development

Since residential land use is a permitted activity the issue is around the development controls associated with residential development and not the provision for residential activity per se.

The development controls in some land units are not well suited to the form and density of much residential development. For example, the lot coverage control of 500m² in Land Unit 8 - Regenerating Slopes does not seem to be the most appropriate given that the average lot size is around 800m² (that is, 62 per cent coverage).

The requirement for controlled activity consents in the policy area for all earthworks and vegetation clearance would seem to add little value, particularly if the permitted standards for earthworks and vegetation clearance have already been meet.

There are a number of layers of control on some residential areas - land unit rules, policy areas, SMAs and sites of ecological significance/sensitive areas. Are all layers necessary?

The requirement for controlled activity consents for buildings in the policy areas may be of some value, but consideration should be given as to whether a restricted discretionary consent could be required instead; and to providing better assessment criteria.

While there are different areas defined within policy areas, the same general controlled activity rules and criteria apply equally within all of the areas. It may be appropriate to incorporate some more specific controls in some areas or to exclude some areas to achieve a more targeted set of controls.

If a 'residential land unit' were introduced into the existing residential areas it would be introduced on a 'cadastral' basis rather than a 'landform' basis. Therefore, there would be issues as to how the land unit would integrate with surrounding land units.

A 'residential land unit' is an activity-based land unit. There may be issues with introducing one activity-based land unit without others, for example commercial or industrial land units. Would there be implications for rates if land was classified residential?

Policy areas do not apply to all residential development areas, so policy areas may or may not be appropriate.

If Land Unit 12 - Bush Residential was introduced to Great Barrier Island, consideration would need to be given to whether the development controls in Land Unit 12 are appropriate for the form and density of development on Great Barrier.