Heritage, trees could halt dense housing

Heritage, hazards and trees could render certain sites unsuitable for new intensified housing rules, and residents can have a say.

Christchurch City Council is investigating what areas and features could be ring-fenced from changes that would allow three triple-storey buildings per section to be built across the city.

Exempted locations could include those with significant trees, heritage character, hazards, or infrastructure constraints.

The new law, expected to be passed by the Government before Christmas, will take effect in the main cities next year. Further changes will allow six-storey housing in areas near buses and shops.

One of the aims of the changes is to enable more affordable homes to be built.

More than 1100 groups or individuals have already made submissions to a parliamentary select committee about the proposed law, which will amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) by allowing intensified development to three storeys without resource consent.

Concerns included the potential loss of trees, the lack of minimum site size for three buildings, and the lack of setbacks and privacy for residents.

Councils can set aside areas considered unsuitable because of hazards or special features if they have ‘‘site specific evidence’’, the proposed law says.

Christchurch City Council’s urban development and transport committee this week agreed council staff should investigate what would make sites eligible for exemption.

City residents will have a chance to have their say from April.

The council must then write the exemptions into the city’s district plan by August, when the law takes effect.

In a report to the committee, council staff said the district plan already identified areas that could be unsuitable for intensified housing. These include sites with ecological, cultural, heritage or landscape significance, as well as those prone to flooding, liquefaction, tsunami, rockfalls, and slips.

Also listed in the district plan were areas close to power pylons, railway lines, motorways, and waterways, the staff report said.

Other locations that might qualify for exemption included residential character areas, sites with significant trees, esplanade strips, red zone areas, or places covered by the central city quake recovery blueprint.

Some hill neighbourhoods with existing mixed-density zones could also be considered. They are Monks Spur/Mt Pleasant, Shalamar Drive, Upper Kennedys Bush, Redmund Spur and Bridle Path on the Port Hills; and Diamond Harbour, Allandale, and Samarang Bay around Lyttelton Harbour.

The committee agreed unanimously that staff should analyse what would qualify sites to be eligible for exemption from the new law.

Cr Yani Johanson expressed concern that there was not enough being done to protect the city’s trees. He wanted trees individually identified and added to the list of protected trees.

‘‘We have a climate change emergency. We’re losing more and more trees in the city. The longer we leave it the worse our environmental outcomes are,’’ he said.

However, a council staff member said updating the tree schedule would require additional resources that the council did not have.