Plan Change 78 (“PC78”) Hearings will be underway shortly. This follows the pre-hearing conference which was held from 6 March 2023, with Helen Andrews, Director at TEL, in attendance.
The Independent Hearings Panel (“IHP”) tasked with making recommendations on PC78 has identified several jurisdictional/potential scope issues that were raised during the pre-hearing conference, which need to be addressed as a preliminary matter. The IHP will therefore be holding a hearing on these issues commencing from 3 April 2023, to hear legal submissions (only) from the Council and all other relevant parties. The preliminary issues include: how PC78 should be applied in respect of the Auckland Light Rail Corridor and Special Housing Areas; whether submitters can seek changes to zoning, provisions of the partly operative Auckland Unitary Plan and/or extensions of qualifying matters beyond those included in PC78 as notified; the definition of ‘urban environment’, and whether ferry terminals are “rapid transit stops” for the purposes of PC78.
Meanwhile, the Auckland Council advised the Panel on 20 March 2023 that it has requested the Minister for the Environment extend the timeframe for it to make decisions on the IHP’s recommendations on PC78 by one year (i.e. to 31 March 2025). The Council considers this extension will provide the necessary time for it to undertake further investigations into natural hazards and stormwater management, together with infrastructure provisions, review how those should be provided for in PC78 and advise the IHP regarding the same. In the Council’s view, this work needs to be done in response to the weather events over January and February 2023, which demonstrated that Auckland’s infrastructure may already be beyond capacity, let alone sufficient to deal with further urban intensification as proposed by PC78.
On 22 March 2023, the IHP advised that it would be proceeding in accordance with its current schedule (as existing timeframes are already tight), until it receives the Minister’s decision on the Council’s extension request.