FAQs about urban design for business and adjacent areas

While the current District Plan’s rules have been found to be generally effective for management of interfaces between business and non-business zones as well as urban design in business-zoned town centres, making some minor amendments to address identified issues would make it more effective. Also by providing greater clarity, the draft changes would help achieve high quality urban design within business-zoned town centres.

With the draft changes we’re aiming to strike a balance between enabling business and protecting the look and feel of the neighbouring residential areas.

It is usually the developer of a new business site who needs to apply for a resource consent and not the tenant who later occupies the site. Also it’s important to note that new business developments almost always require some form of resource consent, as they’re usually a controlled activity. With the draft changes additional resource consents would potentially
be required if the developer didn’t want to abide by the new standards, for example if they were opposed to having an increased building setback or additional landscaping.

We’re making changes to the business zones framework to comply with the new National Planning Standards which are being introduced by central government. At the same time we’re using it as an opportunity to enable more diverse business services and employment opportunities within our district which in turn will help achieve a greater degree of district’s self-sufficiency.

For more information about the Council’s preferred option for draft changes to urban design for business and adjacent areas, and all the work done to date as part of the review visit Council website where all the reports developed for the District Plan Review are kept.