It has been described as probably “the most enabling intensification regime in the country”, but Tasman’s plan to make it easier to build denser housing has only received 53 submissions.
Submissions on Plan Change 81 close in less than a week, at 5pm on Monday 3 August.
The plan would rezone parts of Tasman towns to ensure the district has the residential and business capacity for the next decade.
Central to the plan change is a new medium density residential zone that aims to make it easier to build townhouses, duplexes, and small apartment buildings.
Much of the intensification is earmarked for the centre of existing towns with growth expected to be largely provided for along the State Highway 6 corridor.
Central Richmond is also proposed to get its own intensive development precinct, which was hoped to quadruple the current rate of intensification to 57 new intensified homes each year.
Height limits of 11 metres (14 in central Richmond and eight in Māpua) and higher building coverage of 60 percent were some of the measures hoped to make intensification easier.
The provisions for papakāinga are also being updated, which was expected to particularly benefit developments in Motueka, Tākaka, and Stringer Road in Redwood Valley.
Plan Change 81 builds off several of pieces of earlier work, such as the region’s future development strategy, Māpua Masterplan, and the Richmond Spatial Plan.
The latter two documents for Māpua and Richmond could be described as neighbourhood plans – intermediary steps in significant plan changes to ensure local communities were onboard with the proposals for their area.
Nelson’s major planning overhaul, Plan Change 29, saw widespread backlash, which many residents attributed to the lack of neighbourhood plans.
However, even with Tasman’s prior groundwork, Māpua locals have been upset with the scale of development slated for their seaside village, while the community of Hope has pushed back on the proposed light industrial and commercial zoning for their area.
Despite the contention with parts of the plan, as of Monday afternoon, only 53 submissions have been received.
To help make it easier for residents to submit, Tasman District Council held several drop-in sessions across the district to help residents understand the proposal and provide guidance on submitting.
Various ‘how-to’ videos are also accessible from the Plan Change 81 page on the council’s Shape Tasman website.
A council spokesperson said they were “comfortable” with the level of engagement to date.
“At this stage, we wouldn’t characterise the number of submissions as either low or high. Experience shows that submission rates can vary considerably between plan changes, and it is not uncommon for a significant proportion of submissions to be received in the final days.”
In addition to Plan Change 81, the council was also consulting on the Tasman Regional Policy Statement Change 1, which has only received a single submission.
That document provides the strategic direction that Plan Change 81 aims to put into practice.
The two changes are separate and would require each their own submissions.
