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Important words and phrases
The following words have particular meanings in this process, as outlined below.
Intensification planning instrument (IPI)
Intensification Planning Instrument is the legal term for Proposed Plan Change 2. You may see this term used throughout the Council’s plan change documents.
Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS)
The Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS) are government standards that provide for the construction up to three residential units per site as a “permitted activity”, subject to specified density standards (outlined in the table below). A permitted activity is an activity that you can undertake as of right, without a resource consent from the Council (although there are other reasons that you may need a resource consent). The MDRS must be applied to all relevant residential zones, which in Kāpiti means the General Residential Zone.
Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS) |
||
Number of residential units per site |
Maximum |
3 |
Building height |
Maximum |
11m + 1m for pitched roof |
Height in relation to boundary |
Maximum |
4m + 60° recession plane |
Setbacks |
Minimum |
Front yard: 1.5m Side yard: 1m Rear yard: 1m (excluding on corner sites) |
Building coverage |
Maximum |
50% of the net site area |
Outdoor living space (one per unit) |
Minimum |
Ground floor: 20m2, 3m dimension Above ground floor: 8m2, 1.8m dimension |
Outlook space (per unit) |
Minimum |
Principal living room: 4m depth, 4m width All other habitable rooms: 1m depth, 1m width |
Windows to street |
Minimum |
20% glazing of the street-facing facade |
Landscaped area |
Minimum |
20% of the developed site with grass or plants |
Council must also provide a range of other requirements as part of incorporating the MDRS into our District Plan:
- Developments that breach the MDRS are classed as a “restricted discretionary activity”, which means resource consent is required.
- Council is precluded from publicly notifying resource consent applications for developments that breach the MDRS and, in certain circumstances, is also precluded from notifying neighbours or other people who may be affected by the development.
- Subdivision of residential units is classed as a “controlled activity”, which means a resource consent is required. Council must generally grant resource consent for a controlled activity, although Council can impose conditions, and can decline the consent where there is a significant risk from natural hazards, or where legal and physical access has not been provided.
For more information on the MDRS, see the Ministry for the Environment’s guidance, Understanding the RMA (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021: Information on submitting.
National Policy Statement on Urban Development 2020 (NPS-UD)
The National Policy Statement on Urban Development 2020 (NPS-UD) has objectives and policies for urban development that Tier 1 councils, including Kāpiti Coast District Council, must give effect to in their district plans. The NPS-UD requires councils to ensure their plans allow for increased levels of development in their urban environments, particularly in locations that have good access to metropolitan, town and local centres, or have good access to public transport.
You can find the National Policy Statement on Urban Development 2020 on the Ministry for the Environment’s website.
Qualifying matters
If a qualifying matter is present in any area, the District Plan can provide for less development in that area than would otherwise be required by the Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS) or by policy 3 of the NPS-UD. The Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) lists the series of matters that can be considered as qualifying matters.
For Proposed Plan Change 2, Council has identified the following as qualifying matters:
- the National Grid
- the high-pressure gas pipeline
- flood hazard category areas
- fault avoidance areas
- scheduled historic buildings, structures, sites or areas
- scheduled notable trees
- scheduled places and areas of significance to Māori
- scheduled ecological sites
- scheduled key indigenous trees
- scheduled outstanding natural features and landscapes
- development in the General Industrial Zone (business land suitable for low-density uses)
- development in the Mixed-Use Precinct of the Airport Zone (business land suitable for low-density uses)
- development in the Airport Buffer and Airport Core Precincts of the Airport Zone
- development in the Open Space Zones
- esplanade reserve/strip requirements
- the Coastal Qualifying Matter Precinct
- Kārewarewa Urupā (which is a proposed place and area of significance to Māori)
- the Marae Takiwā Precinct.
Most of these matters are already addressed through existing District Plan rules, which will continue to apply to new development. However, Plan Change 2 proposes adding three new qualifying matters to the District Plan. These include:
- The Coastal Qualifying Matter Precinct. This precinct is an interim measure intended to maintain the status-quo level of development currently provided for by the District Plan in areas that have been identified as potentially susceptible to coastal erosion hazard, until the management of coastal hazards is addressed through a future coastal environment plan change.
- Kārewarewa Urupā. Kārewarewa Urupā is in the General Residential Zone at Waikanae Beach, and Plan Change 2 proposes recognising the area as a wāhi tapu site in Schedule 9 of the District Plan. This means development in the area will be subject to rules in the Sites and Areas of Significance to Māori chapter of the District Plan. For more information about Kārewarewa Urupā, see Section 32 Evaluation Report: Appendix R – The Kārewarewa Urupā Report (Waitangi Tribunal, 2020)[PDF 4.47 MB]. The areas proposed to be recognised in Schedule 9 are described in the Section 32 Evaluation Report: Appendix W – Spatial extent of proposed additions to Schedule 9 of the District Plan (Wāhi Tapu)[PDF 904 KB].
- The Marae Takiwā Precinct. This precinct recognises activities that occur at a marae are likely to be sensitive to the effects of surrounding intensification, by providing for the status-quo building heights currently provided for by the District Plan to be maintained around marae. This precinct applies to areas around Raukawa Marae in Ōtaki and Whakarongotai Marae in Waikanae. The spatial extent of these areas, and studies undertaken to define them, are described in the Section 32 Evaluation Report: Appendix T – Marae Takiwā Precinct Studies (Boffa Miskell, 2022)[PDF 23.58 MB].
For a description of how qualifying matters have been identified and considered in the development of Proposed Plan Change 2, see section 6.1 of Council’s Section 32 Evaluation Report[PDF 2.82 MB].
Urupā
This term is defined in the Operative Kapiti Coast District Plan 2021 as follows:
means (Māori) burial ground.
This definition is not proposed to be amended by this plan change.
Waahi tapu (also sometimes spelt wāhi tapu)
This term is defined in the Operative Kapiti Coast District Plan as follows:
means a site or an area which is sacred or spiritually meaningful to tāngata whenua. Waahi tapu may be associated with creation stories of tāngata whenua, a particular event (such as a battle or ceremony); it may be where the whenua (placenta) was returned to the earth, or where a certain type of valued resource was found.
This definition is not proposed to be amended by this plan change.
Tangata whenua
This term is defined in the Operative Kapiti Coast District Plan 2021 as follows:
in relation to a particular area, means the iwi or hapū that holds mana whenua over that area.
This definition is not proposed to be amended by this plan change.
Iwi
This term is defined in the Operative Kapiti Coast District Plan 2021 as follows:
means tribe.
This definition is not proposed to be amended by this plan change.
Hapū
This term is defined in the Operative Kapiti Coast District Plan 2021 as follows:
means sub-tribe.
This definition is not proposed to be amended by this plan change.
Mana whenua
This term is defined in the Operative Kapiti Coast District Plan 2021 as follows:
means the same as in the Resource Management Act 1991 as set out below:
means customary authority exercised by an iwi or hapu in an identified area.
This definition is not proposed to be amended by this plan change.
Papakāinga
The Operative Kapiti Coast District Plan 2021 defines “Papakāinga and Papakāinga Housing” as follows:
means communal housing, which occurs on Māori land, often based around a marae and providing housing for members of an extended family.
Proposed Plan Change 2 proposes to amend this definition so that the District Plan would define “Papakāinga” as follows:
means housing and any ancillary activities (including social, cultural, educational, recreational, and commercial activities) for tangata whenua on their ancestral land.
Related to this, Proposed Plan Change 2 also proposes to include new definitions for the terms “ancestral land” and “tipuna/tupuna”. The proposed definition for “ancestral land” means land that belonged to tipuna/tupuna, and tipuna/tupuna means ancestors.
Proposed Plan Change 2 provides for tangata whenua to develop papakāinga on ancestral land in the General Residential, Town Centre, Rural and Future Urban zones throughout the district. Council is required to recognise and provide for the relationship between tangata whenua and their ancestral land, and enabling tangata whenua to develop papakāinga on their ancestral land is part of this.
Papakāinga development involves housing and ancillary activities (including social, cultural, educational, recreational and commercial activities) for tangata whenua on their ancestral land. You can find a more detailed explanation of the role and purpose of papakāinga in the proposed District Plan chapter on papakāinga, in section 3 of the Proposed Plan Change 2 – Intensification (Intensification Planning Instrument)[PDF 31.55 MB] document.
Rezoning areas to General Residential Zones
Plan Change 2 proposes rezoning some areas as General Residential Zone. This means the District Plan rules enabling residential development (including the Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS) would apply in these areas.
The areas proposed to be rezoned as General Residential Zone are identified in Appendix D to the Proposed Plan Change 2 – Intensification (Intensification Planning Instrument)[PDF 31.55 MB] document. You can find more information on the reasons for including these areas in Proposed Plan Change 2 in Appendix V[PDF 1.51 MB] and section 5.2.3 of the Council’s Section 32 Evaluation Report[PDF 2.82 MB].
The proposed rezoning of these areas through Plan Change 2 will not increase rates, as rating areas in Kāpiti are not directly linked to land use zoning in the District Plan. Any future changes to rating area boundaries will require full consultation through an Annual Plan or Long-Term Plan process. You can find out more at Explaining rates.
Design guides
Plan Change 2 proposes adding a “Residential Design Guide” and “Centres Design Guide” to the District Plan. These design guides would provide guidance to developers on how to achieve high-quality design outcomes for residential and mixed use developments.
Where development in the General Residential or Centres Zones requires a resource consent because it breaches the permitted density standards, the design guides are considered as a “matter of discretion” as part of the resource consent application. More information on how to use the design guides as part of a resource consent application is included in section 3 of each design guide.
The design guides do not have immediate legal effect, and will only have effect once Plan Change 2 becomes operative.
The proposed Residential and Centres Design Guides are in Appendix B and Appendix C to the Proposed Plan Change 2 – Intensification (Intensification Planning Instrument) [PDF 31.55 MB]document.
Land Development Minimum Requirements
The Land Development Minimum Requirements, April 2022[PDF 7.23 MB] (LDMR) is the Council’s operational document, setting out a range of minimum requirements for the design and construction of infrastructure as part of subdivision and development.
The Land Development Minimum Requirements, April 2022 is an updated version of the Council’s Subdivision and Development Principles and Requirements, 2012 document, which is referred to throughout the District Plan. Plan Change 2 proposes replacing all references to the Subdivision and Development Principles and Requirements, 2012 with references to the Land Development Minimum Requirements, April 2022.
This change does not have immediate legal effect and, until Plan Change 2 becomes operative, the Subdivision and Development Principles and Requirements, 2012 will continue to apply.
For information on the consultation undertaken to inform the development of the Land Development Minimum Requirements, see section 3.5.3 of Council’s Section 32 Evaluation Report[PDF 2.82 MB]. See section 5.2.5 of that report for more information on the difference between the Land Development Minimum Requirements and the Subdivision and Development Principles and Requirements.
Financial contributions provisions
Financial contributions provisions are rules in a district plan that can require money or land to be provided as part of new development, to assist with providing reserves, infrastructure, or to offset other adverse effects.
Currently Council primarily collects funding for infrastructure through Development Contributions under the separate Development Contributions Policy, although it still collects financial contributions under the District Plan for reserves, and for infrastructure on projects where the Development Contributions Policy might not otherwise apply.
Plan Change 2 proposes amending the existing Financial Contributions provisions to better align them with requirements for financial contributions outlined under section 108 of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). You can find out more about the proposed changes to the financial contributions provisions in section 5.4 of Council’s Section 32 Evaluation Report[PDF 2.82 MB].
Immediate legal effect
If a provision has immediate legal effect, it applies from the date on which Plan Change 2 was publicly notified (18 August 2022). New development must comply with rules that have immediate legal effect, as well as the rules of the Operative District Plan.
Proposed rules GRZ-Rx1 and GRZ-Rx2 enable more development to occur than the existing rules in the Operative District Plan. In areas where these rules have immediate legal effect, the rules in the Operative District Plan that enable less development in these areas cease to apply.
Proposed provision with immediate legal effect (from 18 Augsut 2022) |
Exceptions to immediate legal effect of the provision |
Relevant section of the Resource Management Act 1991 |
Proposed rule GRZ-Rx1 in the General Residential Zone chapter |
This rule does not have immediate legal effect in the following areas:
|
Section 86BA |
Proposed rule GRZ-Rx2 in the General Residential Zone chapter |
This rule does not have immediate legal effect in the following areas:
In addition to this, standard 2 of the proposed rule does not have immediate legal effect. Instead, clause 11 of Schedule 3A of the Resource Management Act 1991 (which relates to building height) has immediate legal effect in place of standard 2. |
Section 86BA |
The proposal to add Kārewarewa Urupā to Schedule 9 of the District Plan. |
No exceptions. |
Section 86B |
In areas where proposed rules GRZ-Rx1 and GRZ-Rx2 do not have immediate legal effect, the rules of the Operative District Plan will continue to apply until Proposed Plan Change 2 becomes operative. For more information, see qualifying matter areas and areas proposed to be rezoned as general residential zone.