Proposed Plan Change 21

Parking and related changes

Publicly notified 25 September 2010

Decisions notified 3 March 2012

At its meeting on 7 April 2011 Council resolved to appoint an independent Commissioner chaired Council assisted Hearing Panel to hear and make decisions on submissions on proposed Council Plan Change 21. These decisions have now been made and received by Council.
The full ‘Decisions of Commissioners Addressing Submissions on the Plan Change’ document can be downloaded from the ‘Original Documents’ section below, however in summary the decision is to adopt the plan change with some modifications, including:

  • alter the parking provisions for NMIT to more closely align with the restricted discretionary controls of the eastern Inner City Fringe;
  • amend the “Short Term Living Accommodation” parking standards and rules to allow a more flexible approach for these activities in recognition of their dynamic nature;
  • alter the definition of private carparking area as it relates to City Centre Area to include parking areas where the public can park and adjust the rules to ensure that the environment of the city centre is improved;
  • provide clearer definitions and carparking standards relating to Large Format Retail/Bulk Retail and Supermarkets; and
  • Provide clearer guidance about the role of Travel Management Plans.

Submitters and further submitters have been served with a copy of these decisions and under Cl.14 of the First Schedule of the RMA any submitter or further submitter may appeal any provision or matter that is the subject of their submission to the Environment Court within 30 working days of this service.

More information on making appeals to the environment court can be found on the Ministry for the Environment’s website here.

Background

This Plan Change reduces parking requirements across the region for some activities where research has shown the levels required are excessive. It also introduces a new parking standard for motels, backpackers and other travellers’ accommodation, which to date have needed resource consent for parking. A new policy is added to guide applicants and decision makers on when a reduction in parking may, or may not, be appropriate to allow by resource consent. A new rule allows the number of car parks to be reduced if cycle parks are provided instead. A minor change is proposed to the sign rules to clarify that directional and ‘wayfinding’ signs for pedestrians and cyclists are allowed.

The rest of the Plan Change relates to the Inner City Zone and implements parts of the Heart of Nelson Strategy relating to parking. This includes the location and design and appearance of privately provided carparking areas as well as the amount of private parking provided. It also treats the block bounded by Collingwood, Hardy, Harley, Malthouse Lane and Riverside as if it were City Centre – provision of parking by businesses is not compulsory (and sites will later become subject to the special City Centre rate). The design and appearance of new or altered buildings in this block will be regulated to promote better quality development.

Please note: the section 32 table for Plan Change 21.5 (relating to block east of Collingwood St and rule ICr.76) was inadvertently omitted from the section 32 report released when the Plan Change was notified on 25 September. It was therefore necessary to re-notify Plan Change 21.5 with the missing table provided (which is obtainable from the Section 32 Addendum link below). This re-notification occurred on 16 October 2010. As there is already a very long submission period for the plan changes, the closing date for submissions for the re-notified Plan Change 21.5 remains 3 December (other parts of Plan Change 21 are unaffected).

Documents and downloads 

Original documents

Contact person

For more information contact the Planning Adviser +64 3 546 0295.