News

What you told us - District Plan Engagement Report

Housing, suburban sprawl, harbour protection and public transport were hot topics raised by residents during consultation on Porirua’s District Plan review.

The Make your mark campaign ran for six weeks during October and November last year to encourage residents to have a say on how our District Plan should guide Porirua’s development for the next 10 to 30 years.

“We talked with residents at public events, held presentations and had open discussions at public meetings and with target groups. We also ran an online survey. During that time the District Planning team recorded verbal comments, received written feedback and many residents drew their ideas on big images of the city,” says Mayor Mike Tana.

“It was great to see so many people interested in how we should plan for Porirua’s future development, because there are some big issues to tackle, such as how we protect our harbour, manage rising sea levels, and plan for Transmission Gully’s impact on the city,” says Mayor Mike.

Environment and City Planning Manager Nic Etheridge says she and her team, which includes Ngāti Toa’s resource management team, met hundreds of people face to face and are working with a number of reference groups on an on-going basis.

“We had 4820 views of the Make your mark website page, 347 hand drawn submissions and 197 pieces of written feedback, which has been awesome,” says Nic.

“Our purpose was to understand what’s important to our communities and use that feedback to make sure our plan represents community views alongside the requirements we have under the Resource Management Act.”

Overall the key messages from our communities on the District Plan were:

•      strong support for diverse housing options, affordable housing and acceptance of the need to grow
  
•       a reluctance to see low density sprawl as the future growth model, instead supporting a move into medium density intensification and increasing height limits in the CBD
  
•       strong support for protection of the harbour through planning tools (these could be based on the principles of water sensitive urban design and storm water neutrality)
  
•      an interest in the changes brought about by Transmission Gully, including what happens to SH1 and SH58, and how it will affect their neighbourhoods
  
•      overall strong support for non-vehicular modes of transport and better public transport
  
•      support for the risk-based approach to natural hazards. The hazards of most concern were earthquakes, flooding and slips
  
•      mixed responses to industrial zoning in the Pāuatahanui-Judgeford area, with tensions between economic and employment opportunities and the possible impact on rural character and harbour health
  
•      support for protecting landscape backdrops
  
•      a desire for a review of parking provisions
  
•      support for vegetation protection backed by penalties if required.

The next step will be seeking feedback on the draft District Plan in October 2018.

After that, the aim is to notify a proposed District Plan in 2019 and have an operative plan in late 2020, subject to the outcome of hearings.

You’ll find more detail about the feedback received in the District Plan November-October 2017 Engagement Report. It’s online through our website and in hard copy at Porirua libraries and at the main Council building, Cobham Court.

NB: The District Plan is about planning for future land use and directs how Porirua will develop while respecting the environment. There’s no money involved. 

The Long-term Plan, which we will also be seeking community feedback on, is about what services our community want, such as libraries, parks and rubbish. It guides what we will spend money on, how much it will cost and how rates are set. 

The two plans touch when it comes to growth, development contributions and infrastructure (roads and pipes) planning.

13 Mar 2018