Key draft changes for the future District Plan

Key draft changes are aimed at providing the best balance between making it easy to set up a home-based business and encouraging other businesses to locate in the district’s commercial and business centres, unless there is a need for it to be located in the rural area.

The Council’s District Plan Committee has endorsed the following key draft changes for further development:

• Home-based business continues to be a permitted activity in both rural and residential zones, as long as the business meets certain permitted standards.
  
• Develop permitted standards specific for home-based businesses to ensure that the scale of businesses and any adverse effects (eg noise and traffic) on the neighbouring environment are appropriately managed. For example, set a maximum number of people who can be employed (keep the current level of up to two full time equivalent employees who don’t live on the site), a maximum size of a home-based business (eg a maximum floor area) and limitations on the hours of operation for visitors to the site and car parking.
• Other business activities in the residential zones will likely require a resource consent and will be considered to be appropriate if, among other things, they are of a scale anticipated within the zone and any adverse effects are adequately addressed.