The Draft Auckland Plan
The submission period for the Auckland Council's Draft Auckland Plan closed on Monday 31 October 2011, with more than 2,500 submissions received to the Plan and its supporting documents.
This is a wide ranging strategic plan that includes long term spatial development proposals (such as a "Rural Urban Boundary", or "RUB") which will guide the more detailed development and environmental provisions in the forthcoming Auckland Unitary Plan expected to be notified by 2013.
Submission hearings will begin shortly, and it is expected that the Plan will be adopted by early 2012.
Our Spring 2011 Newsletter
Welcome to Terra Nova Planning's Spring 2011 Newsletter in which we highlight two of our most significant current projects, and draw your attention to the draft Auckland Plan, for which submission hearings are about to start.
Our larger current projects are;
- Marsden City Centre private plan change in Whangarei District, and
- a multi-storey retirement complex and retail shops in the Warkworth town centre.
Marsden City Centre Plan Change
After completing the Marsden Point - Ruakaka Structure Plan for the Whangarei District Council, we were asked by North Holdings Ltd (one of the major landowners within the Structure Plan area) to prepare a private plan change establishing urban design, policies and rules for Marsden City Centre, the future primary centre for the wider town, which will eventually accommodate some 40,000 people. Plan Change 83 includes:
- a town centre with mainstreet retail shops and offices
- residential apartments and townhouses
- parks and open space
- light and medium industry, including "live/work" units
- neighbourhood shops
The plan change was prepared in the Council's new District Plan format, and is based on detailed urban design and precinct plans. The Council particularly did not want the Plan Change to have non-complying activities, in line with the approach it is taking with its new District Plan. This required that the objectives and policies had clear and defensible thresholds, as they are the sole mechanisms for determining whether or not an application should be notified, and consented.
Plan Change 83 has been adopted by the Council and there were only two appeals to some parts of the decision. You can view an urban design perspective of the City Centre on the "Projects" page of our website, and the Plan Change on the Whangarei District Council's website.
The Oaks Village
The Oaks Village retirement complex is proposed for a large site right in the centre of the Warkworth town centre. The multi-level development includes nine ground-level retail shops, shared pedestrian and vehicle spaces, an underground car park, 86 retirement units and a 30 bed aged care facility. The proposal includes the preservation and upgrading of the historic Warkworth Inn, and the retention of most of the large oak trees on the Neville Street frontage. The Auckland Council hearing is expected soon. You can view the model of the proposed development on the "Projects" page of our website.
Draft Auckland Plan
The draft Auckland Plan proposes a high level strategy, especially spatial planning initiatives, to accommodate an additional one million people and 400,000 dwellings in what the Plan describes as a quality, compact city with most new housing created within the current urban limits through higher density living. The Plan includes proposals for all of the City's land, with protected rural land, villages and satellite centres as part of the planning mix. As well as the Auckland Plan, other documents open for submission were the Draft Economic Development Strategy, Draft Waterfront Plan, and Draft City Centre Masterplan. Submissions closed on on Monday 31 October 2011, with approximately 2,500 submissions received to all of the documents (and some 1,700 to the Auckland Plan itself). The Council currently plans to adopt the final Plan before the end of the year. You can view the draft Plan on the Auckland Council's website.
