DCC To Withdraw Part Of Stage Two Harbourside Development
The Dunedin City Council has resolved to withdraw part of its planned Harbourside development partly in response to concerns raised by appellants concerned about effects on local businesses.
Cr Colin Weatherall, authorised to represent the Council in negotiations with the Otago Chamber of Commerce and five affected businesses, says the Council will withdraw part of its proposed Stage Two of the development.
It will continue to mediate with those affected to confirm objectives, policies and rules for the rest of the Harbourside zoning.
Along with all of Stage One, the Council is planning to retain from the original Stage Two parts to the south of Stage one and the designations of the Fairley Street Walkway, and the Heritage Buildings identified in the plan.
Parties to the agreement to withdraw part of stage 2 are local businesses Crawford Glass Dunedin Ltd, Kaan’s Catering Ltd, Bradken Resources Pty Ltd, and Farra Engineering Ltd, along with the Chamber.
The Council’s vision for a revitalised inner Harbourside basin, with a mix of activity, people, places and industry, depends on changing zoning in the area. A change of zoning to Harbourside was approved in February last year, but has looked likely to end in the Environment Court due to concerns about the effects on businesses.
Cr Weatherall says all parties hope that by removing the most controversial parts of the proposal, mediation can continue with goodwill on all sides, hopefully without need to have lengthy appearances before the Environment Court.
He says the parts of the zoning north of Willis Street, which will be abandoned, were unlikely to take place for several decades anyway and, given the changes to Dunedin and the world economy in just the past couple of years, it seems sensible to come back to the inner harbour as the principle focus .
“This allows us to keep the visionary view of what the area can become, but retain the viability of local businesses” says Cr Weatherall.
Public notice of withdrawal of part of Plan Change 7: Dunedin harbourside to the Dunedin City District Plan
Clause 8D of Schedule 1 of the Resource Management Act 1991
The Dunedin City Council gives notice of its withdrawal of the area marked ‘A’ on the map below which was rezoned as Harbourside by way of Plan Change 7: Dunedin harbourside. The area marked ‘A’ on the map below will revert back to Industrial 1 Zone or Port 2 Zone as it was prior to notification of Plan Change 7 on 26 January 2008.
There will be consequential changes to some District Plan provisions to remove reference to the area that is now being withdrawn. A full copy of the updated provisions for Plan Change 7: Dunedin harbourside are available from the City of Dunedin website www.dunedin.govt.nz/harbourside.
The reasons for the Dunedin City Council’s decision to withdrawal part of the Harbourside Zone are:
a) this is a compromise with appellants to resolve the appeals.
b) it allows the objectives of the plan change to be met while protecting industrial activities in the area.
Chamber of Commerce media release from Chief Executive John Christie below.
Council Votes to Save Jobs
The signing of this agreement and the resolutions passed by Council on the 29 March 2010, are a clear indication that the Council has listened to the Chamber’s representations and has reassessed its “vision” for the Harbourside development.
The Chamber, on behalf of its members, and in the best interests of the city, has opposed part of the Harbourside development plans as proposed in the conviction that, had it proceeded as planned, existing jobs would be lost along with any future job prospects. The Chamber, together with the other appellants Farra Engineering, Bradken Resources, Kaan’s Catering and Crawford Glass Dunedin, have worked hard with Council representative Cr Colin Weatherall to reach a position that will satisfy many of those concerns.
On behalf of the Chamber and the appellants, and all the industries within the Harbourside, I wish to take the opportunity to thank all those many people who assisted in the outcome. Particular thanks are due to Cr. Weatherall who, on behalf of the Council, has worked tirelessly with us to fully understand our view of the impacts of the proposal on industry and jobs and, having understood, represented those issues to Council with total integrity to achieve this positive outcome.
The Chamber has worked successfully with Council on a number of initiatives over the last twelve months. The Harbourside Plan Change is one of the few issues that have taken longer to successfully resolve.
I take this opportunity to place on record the Chamber’s pride in its working relationship with the Council. On behalf of its members we remain committed to offering the large pool of expertise represented among our members and to working with the Council on issues that will improve the economy of Dunedin and the lifestyles of its residents.