Government has big plans to build in central Kerikeri with intensive public housing
march 2023
Kāinga Ora (KO) and The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MHUD) have plans to quadruple intensive, affordable public (social) housing in central Kerikeri.
Statistics show that affordability is a big issue with Kerikeri housing values and rental costs being high, relative to average incomes. Our Kerikeri heard community concerns about the affordability of housing at community meetings in 2019 and through surveys with over 1200 people prior to forming the Trust. We also heard concerns about poor planning, lack of community involvement in key decisions and insufficient infrastructure.
While the community outlined goals to “care for the wellbeing of our people” and “utilize smart solutions to create affordable healthy housing” they also included goals to “promote effective planning, infrastructure and growth” with active community involvement in urban design. Therefore, the issue is not whether affordable housing is needed, it is how this can be achieved.
It may surprise you to know there is still no comprehensive plan in place that ensures successful outcomes for this type and scale of proposed development, in a town of our population and limited resources. Indeed, there is no Spatial Plan or Masterplan, nor Design Protocols, that can be used by any developers, with the Council having put this crucial work on hold and a Masterplan not yet underway.
However, we believe all goals can be met through transparent planning and community involvement, ultimately resulting in an attractive town we all love to live in and where changes add to the amenity value of living here, as Goal One shows.
We need to develop a town created by educated town planners with input from those who live here and whose livelihoods are here, through proper consultation and transparency with all stakeholders. Whilst we recognise central government agencies are tasked with achieving macro-level goals and targets for all New Zealanders, they do not have a stake in our town and nor do they have an intimate understanding of our community’s needs. In the absence of any data showing the outcomes of the proposed development in a town with our population and composition, it appears Kerikeri is a test pilot for a dramatic intensification of public housing. The potential implications are broad, enduring and potentially irreversible.
Here are the facts:
· KO, through their developers Gemscott Kind Ltd (Gemscott), originally submitted plans to the Far North District Council for multi-storey social housing developments on 3 Clark Rd and 4 King Street. Both applications are non-notified.
· They have since withdrawn these applications and resubmitted a plan for 3 Clark Road for a 3 storey, 12 plex apartment building this month, again non-notified.
· They are soon to submit a plan for 5 Clark Road for a similar apartment building.
· Plans for 4 King Street are on hold.
· They also have an agreement on the land opposite King Street on Kerikeri Road and are currently undergoing due diligence.
· They have made a strong case in their application that all affects are “less than minor” under the Operative District Plan (ODP) and the Proposed District Plan (PDP).
· They did not proactively engage or consult with the owners of immediately neighbouring properties or the wider community about their plans. The owners of neighbouring properties contacted the developer once they found out about the proposed plans.
· KO has made a submission to the Far North District Council to loosen rules in the Proposed District Plan allowing further intensification, up to 6 storeys high, in a large part of the current residential zone surrounding the town. This suggests they wish to develop further sites for intensive social housing. Their submission to the PDP includes:
o Increasing height restrictions to 22m in a new “town centre” zone to allow for 6 storey apartments with no commercial lower level; and
o Changing most of the current residential zone to a new zone “medium density zone” to allow for higher density housing complexes to include “transitional housing, emergency housing, community housing and multigenerational living, as well as traditional family housing.”; and
o Relaxing requirements of notifications to the public and affected parties.
· MHUD has purchased land on Hall Road and Ranui Avenue with approved plans to build 56 new homes. MHUD work with large groups such as Iwi versus individuals to meet their particular housing needs. At this point we have limited knowledge of MHUD plans although an initial community meeting was held on the 24 February 2023. We do however have high hopes for this development as being a more balanced approach to finding solutions to providing affordable housing for a mix of potential homeowners that would otherwise find it difficult to own a home.
Most of the community is unaware of KOs submission and their plan to intensify public housing in Kerikeri. Some limited consultation has been completed with local Iwi. In February Our Kerikeri trustees met with KO along with Councillor, Kelly Stratford (who has the housing portfolio for FNDC), a representative from MHUD, Vision Kerikeri and the Kerikeri & District Business Association. KO also set up an informal “drop-in session” at the Turner Centre but they did not broadly advertise it.
KO currently have 42 homes in Kerikeri. Around 10 have been added in the last 2 years. They have targeted Kerikeri because there are relatively few public houses here compared with Kaikohe and Kaitaia. KO admit that they cannot economically produce affordable housing, that people may purchase, in Northland. They say all their currently planned developments are planned for the use of public housing tenancies. However, MHUD have recently purchased a property on Hall Road to build 56 affordable homes, with a mix of public and affordable housing and open market private sales. They are working hard to solve the affordability issue .
Gemscott’s design for the 12 plex on 3 Clark Rd had to meet KO’s financial budget restraints. The high price of land per square metre means they are economically obliged to intensify and use all the land for the accommodation with limited car parking. This means there are no common green spaces other than carparks and pathways. Each dwelling has a 10m2 deck. Even by KO’s own standards (available on their website), these designs fail to meet the needs of children and we note they fall well short of design guidelines used in other places like Christchurch.
Additional concerns include the already stretched infrastructure, lack of nearby services such as youth facilities, lack of public transport and limited employment and training opportunities. KO has not provided details of any funding that may help resolve these issues. They have also been unable to assure our community that their formula for high density will work in a small provincial town such as Kerikeri.
Our Kerikeri is working on multiple fronts to share information with the community. In addition, we have written to the Far North District Council asking that the applications for development be notified so more consideration can be given to a community engaged master plan for intensification around the town centre.
We have asked KO for information about other small provincial towns with similar size to Kerikeri (urban population circa 8,000 but likely closer to 18,000 including surrounding areas) where such intensive development has been successful. The nearest comparison is Papamoa, which according to online documents are two-storey houses, has a population of 31,000 people and relatively new infrastructure paid for by wide rate base across Tauranga and Mt Maunganui. Hastings, a town of 51,000 people has been planning their urban development for 10 years and are much better prepared than our town for this. The Hasting Council has a written Urban Development Strategy and a Medium Density Housing Strategy which considers such things as the following:
“ 1. Promoting quality design and amenity – assessing the character values of the host neighbourhoods and developing design guides which recognise and respond to existing character and promote quality outcomes in general.
2. Responsive and effective regulation – reviewing and modifying the district plan to better provide for medium density housing, while ensuring quality development.
3. Building local amenity and open space – reviewing public open space provision servicing the host neighbourhoods and considering whether it is suitable to provide for anticipated intensification.”
Their plan looks to achieve “Socially integrated development – exploring the social and demographic structures of likely medium density housing developments and provides recommendations on what facilities are required to support them and help assimilate them into the host neighbourhoods.”
None of this is in place in Kerikeri yet. Our Operative District Plan is outdated and does not consider things that are important to making medium level intensification in our town sustainable. It is too easy for developers to prove they comply with our current “effects-based” District Plan that has little control over the cumulative effects and future consequences of planned development. The Far North District Council have been working on a spatial plan. However, it was put on hold last year and is far from being completed. In fact, the first stage of releasing the foundation document has not yet occurred.
The commercial zone was never envisaged as a place for intensive apartment living. This is a loop-hole cleverly used by the developers. If allowed to go ahead as proposed, it sets a precedent for other development that has irreversible consequences. The Government Policy Statement on Housing and Urban Development 2021 states that we must “plan and invest in our places – to ensure our neighbourhoods and places meet the needs of our communities today and are well equipped to meet long‑ term climate, social, cultural, environmental and economic challenges and opportunities.” These are one of the six focus areas essential to achieving good quality outcomes.
We also note that Clark Rd is earmarked for future higher traffic movements. Ratepayers have already purchased houses between Aranga Rd and King St with the plan of building road connections around the town to reduce traffic on the one-way system. While addressing the non-compliance with commercial zone rules (their proposed parking and turnaround space), the developer’s application states that they feel visitors and deliveries can reverse onto this street. They consider affects to be less than minor because their traffic experts say it only causes delays of traffic by 20 seconds. While Clark Rd is a relatively quiet street currently, this proposal is not future proofed against the Far North District Council’s own roading development plans where this development is likely to be on a main arterial route to New World. Without consultation with the community, this type of detail may be overlooked further exacerbating traffic issues. You may be interested to know that development applications are often reviewed by consultants outside of the Council, who may have no connection to, or duty of care for our town. This one decision alone could create an unsafe environment for the future if not addressed properly now.
The bottom line is that Our Kerikeri feels a Master Plan, led by community and developed in partnership with Council as well as the completion of the spatial plan, are essential critical steps prior to approving these consents. It should not be an afterthought. With our growing town, and trends in urban development, we knew these intensive developments were on their way over a year ago. As such, we have been strongly advocating for this crucial master plan as well as advocating - and in fact pleading – for the spatial plan to not be put on hold by FNDC . We also believe in the importance of community involvement. Failure to engage our community on key developments such as this appears undemocratic, especially when the risks of getting it wrong are real and significant.