Marathon council meeting to decide on upzoning

Thursday, 14 March 2024

Following lengthy reports, expert assessments, planning maps and hearings in front of commissioners, today the Wellington City Council decides on its housing plan for decades to come.

The 4000-page long agenda has not deterred councillors from putting forward amendments, which have been signalled since the first controversial report from the Independent Hearings Panel was released. That report included measures which supported increasing the amount of protected character housing.

The District Plan incorporates two central government upzoning policies, the MDRS and the NPS-UD, which require councils to allow at least six-storey apartments near town centres and transport stops, and to allow townhouses pretty much everywhere.

Hot topics at the meeting will include: the size of protected character areas in suburbs like Mt Victoria where no upzoning is allowed, whether to upzone the suburbs along the Johnsonville train line, the span of walking catchments where upzoning is allowed, and including Adelaide Rd as part of the city centre.

City for People spokesperson Luke Somervell said the meeting was a historic opportunity to “turn the ship around”.

He described the Independent Hearings Panel’s recommendations as “out of touch and out of step with evidence” and called on the council to “face up to the housing crisis” and allow more houses to be built.

“This isn’t just about abstract planning rules, it’s about people’s lives. It’s about nurses who can’t afford to live near to where they work. It’s about young people, who feel like the door to their future in the city is being slammed shut. It’s about the thousands of people who fear being priced out of the communities they love.”

Dr Stuart Donovan, economist at Motu Research, said New Zealand in general – but Wellington in particular – had gotten itself into “a pickle” with expensive low-quality housing through a series of poor policy choices over decades.

“Getting ourselves out of that pickle will take time, it won’t be a single decision that fixes it, but every decision matters, every bit of housing capacity that we can provide, matters.”

“It’s almost death by a thousand cuts, or going the other way, if we can change the direction that’s maybe characterised our housing policy over the last 40 years and push in the other direction, we can win this battle in the long-run through policy choices that consistently err on the side of enabling more rather than enabling less.”

The decision was significant because it had long-term implications for the city and ramifications for how other councils across the country made decisions, he said.

Property developer Ian Cassels supported intensifying housing in the city centre and did not think it needed to impact heritage areas.

“Zoning doesn’t make houses,” he said. “Intensification is what we’re about.”

Meanwhile, former city councillor and current MP for Wellington Central Tamatha Paul said the decision would be the “biggest most critical decision for housing in Wellington for a long time”.

It was an exciting opportunity for the council to be “brave and ambitious” in zoning for as much housing as possible, she said.

She hoped the decisions would be made to serve those who were most in need, rather than prioritising protecting heritage buildings.

The Post understands councillors plan to make tranches of amendments, mainly to allow more housing intensification. Barrister Nick Whittington previously warned councillors not to “lightly reject” recommendations and noted that it was rare to make changes to the Independent Hearings Panel’s findings.

Eleanor West of City for People described the vote as an opportunity to free the city from its “housing doom loop”. The pro-density group has encouraged councillors to increase the areas where upzoning is allowed, particularly in the inner-city suburbs.

Character housing advocacy group LiveWellington said the council should stick to the recommendations of commissioners.

Convenor Jane O’Loughlin said the council’s Housing Capacity Assessment showed the recommendations would provide enough housing to meet the city’s needs over the next 30 years and the furore had been a “very big storm in a teacup”.

Any amendments to the recommendations would be “very disappointing for the hundreds of people who took part in the submissions”, O’Loughlin said.

“There’s modelling reports that show clearly, that we can have as much housing as we need – more than the housing that we need, as well as protect characters areas in Wellington – there’s no trade-off that needs to happen.”

The recommendations from commissioners were a shock to the pro-density majority on council, which included increasing the amount of protected character housing in Mt Victoria.

Economists slammed the recommendations of the independent hearings panel, saying the conclusion that zoning did not affect housing affordability was contrary to evidence.

If any amendments are voted through, the final decision will go to Housing Minister Chris Bishop – who has indicated he blames restrictive zoning rules for contributing to the city’s housing crisis.

The city’s last District Plan was approved in 2000, after being in the works since 1995. While changes can be made in between new plans, major overhauls like this one are few and far between.

The council’s meeting will begin at 9.30, with discussion of housing expected to start after 10am.