Council seeks feedback on plan change

From City Scene, published on 20 July, 2008

The council is proposing to strengthen the city's historic character by removing its blanket protection of pre-1940s buildings in residential 2 zones.

Its plan change 163 proposes to remove some residential 2 streets and properties that display little or no remaining characteristics of the zone so that only those houses which meet the council's "garden suburb" criteria will qualify for protection. Homes that do not meet the criteria may be demolished without a resource consent.

"We are committed to preserving Auckland's heritage and character streetscapes and recognise that there is a strong need to protect the best of residential 2," chairperson of the City Development Committee, Councillor Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga says.

"The council's recommendation about the residential 2 zone is a sensible deal," he says.

The council is seeking feedback from the public on the recommendations. Information has been sent to all occupiers and owners within the residential 2 zone for feedback.

Public feedback will help to inform the council's position in an Environment Court appeal of residential 1 and 2 zones. The deadline for submitting feedback to the council is 5pm on Thursday, 7 August 2008.

Some of the benefits of the new approach include:

introducing a case-by-case approach for protecting pre-1940s residential 2 homes
reducing the risk of a court challenge to residential 1 suburbs while being more rational about the residential 2 zone
providing a suitable framework where houses will be protected if they meet the criteria.