December 11, 2012.

Coastal property owners can make alterations says Council

Claims that property owners along the coast won’t be able to make changes to their homes because of new coastal erosion hazard information are not correct, says Council.

In an update letter going to coastal property owners, Council’s Sustainable Development Manager Jim Ebenhoh says all existing buildings in the coastal area have existing use rights. “This means it is ‘business as usual’.

“Nothing in the coastal erosion hazard information now found on Land Information Memoranda (LIMs) or in the Proposed District Plan affects your existing situation.”

Any new rules in the Proposed District Plan which would control what could be built or how in coastal areas in the future “do not have immediate legal effect,” said Mr Ebenhoh.

“Suggestions have been made that there will be an immediate restriction on building. This is not the case. There will be a long period of submissions, further submissions and hearings before decisions are made. This will take at least nine months to complete. “

If residents wished to apply for new building activity in the meantime, then the existing rules applied.

The existing District Plan has contained coastal development controls since 1995 with the exception of Ōtaki. These vary across the district, but at a broad level they consist of ‘no-build’ lines and in some places ‘relocatable-build lines’. This is a practice that has been in place in other parts of New Zealand for some years.

If land is seaward of a no-build line, then “you can do anything you would normally do on a house except extend the footprint or floor area. Things like putting in new windows, re-doing a bathroom, recladding your house, or changing the layout of the interior can all occur. The existing restrictions are on building or extending the floor area or footprint of a house or other buildings,” said Mr Ebenhoh.

If land fell within a relocatable building area, then the existing District Plan “allows you to extend or build a new house, provided that the extension or new house is designed to be relocatable. You can do all the usual maintenance, alterations, recladding, changing windows, putting in French doors or building a deck, etc.”

The recently notified Proposed District Plan would continue this general approach in areas referred to as Urban No-build Coastal Hazard Management Areas and Urban Relocatable Coastal Hazard Management Areas.

Mr Ebenhoh said more detailed information could be found on the Council website at www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/proposed-district-plan. “There residents will find maps for different parts of the District which show existing development control lines and the proposed development control areas. These are accompanied by a description of how the existing controls work and what the new proposals mean.”

If residents do not have access to a computer, then “we are happy to send the information to them and to answer any questions they may have.” Mr Ebenhoh urged residents to put their views forward through the formal submission process, which was open till March 1, 2013.

“If you wish to question the science behind the coastal hazard information, then you will need to obtain independent qualified expert advice on that coastal science. If you have a view on the proposed development controls, then you should simply state your views.”

ENDS

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