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Resource consents and earthquake rebuilding works
ViaStrada Ltd
Jeremy Phillips
Outline
• Background
• Resource consents 101
• Rebuilding works and consenting
• Changes following the quake
• Resource consent options
• Steps to follow
• What next?
• Q & A
Background
• Resource consents, development planning & traffic engineering:
– Planners, traffic engineers/planners, environmental health
– Responsiveness and direct relationship
• Private and public sector client base
– Predominantly private sector work, but regularly engaged by Councils
– We work with architects, building companies and building owners who are
directly or indirectly interested in quake recovery and consenting
– Close working relationship with CCC, WDC & SDC on consent processes and
quake related response (including pending changes)
• Our response to the quake has been to stay on top of changes in
anticipation of rebuilding work occurring and to identify ways of expediting
consenting.
Resource consents 101
• Compliant– Straight to building consent
• Non-compliant but identical to existing– Straight to building consent
(existing use rights apply)
• Uncertain– Independent check (ViaStrada planner, architect, etc)
– PIM check (application to Council)
– Independent evaluation & assessment to accompany building consent (e.g., assessment by ViaStrada planner on existing use rights)
• Non-compliant– Obtain resource consent.
‘Like with like generally okay’
Resource consents 101
• What needs resource consent? – Any activity in breach of a rule in a District Plan
– Any activity reliant on a resource consent or existing use rights where change is proposed
• Different rules apply depending on: – The District & zoning
– The particular activity/issues involved
• What is in a resource consent application? – Application Form (applicant and property details)
– Plans, Certificate of Title, Fee
– Assessment of Effects on the Environment (AEE)
• Description of what is proposed
• Description of why consent is required
• Assessment of effects and how these are avoided, remedied or mitigated
• Occasionally specialist reports (traffic, heritage, etc) or written approvals
Rebuilding works & consenting
– Works affecting heritage buildings – Works in Special Amenity Areas– Earthworks (usually >0.5m depth/height or
>7.5m3)– Buildings or earthworks in proximity to
waterways– Works within 10m of protected trees– Works in Flood Management Areas*
• What sort of quake related works might trigger consent? – New/replacement dwellings or buildings – Building remediation/repair/alterations in some cases– Land remediation and earthworks in some cases
• Specifically: – Replacement buildings or partial rebuilding, where the works breach a rule
or the terms of an existing resource consent– Rebuilding old buildings built prior to current rules (too high, too big, too
close to boundaries)
Changes following the quake
• Pending changes – Heritage- simplifying consenting– Urban design- for commercial rebuilding– Variation 48- building and earthworks in
Flood Management Areas
• Status quo otherwise applies– Orders-in-Council unlikely for residential
rebuilding– Council commitment to improve service and
efficiency– Best option is to utilise existing
efficiency measures and do everything within own control to improve the process
• Still some room for improvements
• Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Act 2010 – RMA changes have focused on emergency measures, otherwise yet to
deliver any meaningful change to status quo for applicants
Resource consent options• Publicly notified or limited notified consents
– Complex and advice needed on a case-by-case basis
• Non-notified – conventional
– Consent application and information prepared on behalf of applicant
– Council planner reviews application & prepares report/recommendation
– Senior Council staff sign off on recommendation
• Non-notified- streamline (eligibility criteria apply)
– Consent application and decision report/recommendation prepared in one document by ‘approved consultant’ on behalf of applicant
– Senior Council staff sign off on recommendation
• Other options
– Existing use rights, certificates of compliance, etc
Typical steps to follow
1. Identify the need for resource consent and most expedient and efficient way of progressing.
• Independent compliance check vs. PIM
• Identify best consent process / option
2. Coordinate and lodge resource consent
• Preparation of plans (site, floor, elevation plans of proposal, and existing plans wherever possible/available)
• Prepare consent application and AEE
• Obtain any written approvals required (all owners, occupiers, trustees, company directors, powers of attorney)
• Lodge with Council and monitor progress
• Review decision and conditions
3. Decision obtained, progress detailed drawings and progress building consent
What next?• We perceive the most common resource
consent issues for residential rebuilding will be:– Where someone takes advantage of the
rebuilding process to change something– Catch-all rules (e.g., flood floor levels, Special
Amenity Areas)– Heritage buildings
• How we can help: – Advice- compliance, consenting issues/risks, options/alternatives,
improved procedures, Council liaison
– Assessments- preparation of consent applications and AEE
– Coordination – of consent process and participants (applicant’s ‘team’ of architects, building company, applicant, decision maker, etc; and Council personnel), and coordination of information, plans, etc
– Consistency- results, standardised processes
– Responsiveness & adaptability – direct point of contact with experienced, adaptable and results focused planners
Q&A
1. What happens if someone wants to do more than straight
replacement?
2. What expectations for rebuilding and resource consents (typical
works and likely proportion/number of resource consents
required)?
3. What timeframes/trends anticipated?
4. What targets for consenting (time and costs) and what happens if a
consent is limited notified?
5. How is project management of consenting envisaged to occur–
handover to builders to sort, project teams, etc?
Thank youJeremy Phillips, Senior Planner & Director
Kathryn Stapleton, Senior Planner
Andrew Fitzgerald, Planner
Rhys Chesterman, Senior Traffic Planner
www.viastrada.co.nz
