Council should halt housing intensification process amid political uncertainty

Tuesday, 5 September 2023

A pre-quake 10-storey building on Gloucester St in central Christchurch. Similar buildings could spring up in Riccarton, Papanui and Hornby under proposed changes to the district plan.

Mike Yardley is a Christchurch-based writer on current affairs and travel.

OPINION: Blindsided. It is the most frequently used term to encapsulate the sentiment rippling through residents’ groups and community leaders in Riccarton, Hornby, Papanui - and further afield.

Their collective shock has been prompted by the Christchurch City Council’s planning staff making sweeping alterations to the proposed housing density district plan changes, ahead of the independent hearings panel (IHP) process in October.

Government directives on housing density, including the prospect of three by three housing blocks being permitted across much of suburbia, has brought about plan change 14 to the city’s district plan.

During the public submission process, PC14 had notified allowing six-storey housing blocks to take shape in the commercial centres of Riccarton, Hornby and Papanui.

An illustration of a high density residential zone in the central city.

But now those three suburban centres are facing the spectre of even higher housing blocks rising up.

Council staff are recommending the height limit be raised to 10 storeys (32m) within those commercial centre zones, while also recommending seven-storey housing towers can proliferate for 800m beyond the edge of those suburban centres.

Furthermore, housing blocks up to seven storeys are now being recommended as far as 600m from the Shirley, Linwood and north Halswell shopping centres.

The council’s planning manager, Mark Stevenson, is defending the radical new recommendations on the basis that planners have considered all 1000 submissions and “are giving their professional and objective opinion”.

He argues that the independent hearings panel will hear from submitters and may subsequently make recommendations that differ again from what was notified and is now being recommended by council staff.

But what prompted the change in tune on height limits?

Stevenson confirms that “within the Riccarton area, submissions that sought significant changes from what was notified are those from Kāinga Ora, Christchurch International Airport Limited (CIAL), and Scentre (the owners of Westfield Riccarton)”.

The view from the height of a 10-storey building that could be built in Papanui. There are also areas in Riccarton and Hornby - all are in and around the current shopping malls in those suburbs.

The airport company’s submission is seeking a larger airport noise contour, which would reduce the scope of intensification across a large chunk of Riccarton’s surrounding area, if successful.

Stunningly, Stevenson reveals that if the IHP adopts CIAL’s proposed new airport noise contour, council planners will seek to further intensify areas (earmarked for 22m high housing developments) by increasing height limits to 28m, which is about eight or nine storeys!

One of the leading lights in the residents’ revolt against excessive and unwarranted intensification has been Tony Simons, chairperson of the Riccarton Bush-Kilmarnock Residents’ Association.

He describes the latest developments as “totally unexpected, perplexing and inexplicable. This really is council staff running amok!”

Simons rightly asserts that seven to 10 storeys in the suburbs was never part of the notified plan change 14 - “not even in the first horrendous version they proposed.

Riccarton councillor Tyla Harrison-Hunt has been “steadfastly restrained” in commenting on the proposals, Mike Yardley says. (File photo)

“It seems like someone has been in their ear. This is a betrayal by council staff and councillors must be finding it hard to restrain themselves.”

Despite seeking comment from Riccarton ward councillor Tyla Harrison-Hunt, he is steadfastly restraining himself.

“I apologise, but I can’t comment until I’m fully briefed from staff around the new developments,” Harrison-Hunt says. Contrast that with Hornby ward councillor Mark Peters, who swiftly trashed the staff recommendations in The Press last week.

Meanwhile, chairperson of the Halswell Hornby Riccarton community board, Helen Broughton, is “totally opposed” to the increased height recommendations, noting the community board submitted against six storeys, let alone 10.

“I’m concerned that residents who have not submitted have no right to further submit at this point, despite a dramatic increase in height from the initial proposal.”

Simons thunders, “This new, more punitive plan is not bespoke for Christchurch, it is not democratic and gives the finger to anyone committed to promoting the primacy of the CBD as the best place to live and work.”

I believe this latest stoush further underscores the futility of boxing on with the IHP’s scheduled start in October, given the likelihood of a change in government.

National has already committed to allowing cities like Christchurch to opt out of the medium residential density standards in favour of localised decision-making.

It would displease the Beehive, but the council should suspend this multimillion-dollar plan change process until the political outlook and post-election regulatory framework have been settled.

There’s too much uncertainty, and the hearing’s time frame could not be worse.