Monday 6 May, 2019

Council launches new online tool to make further submissions on its district plan easier

Waikato District Council has today launched a new online map tool that can help residents and ratepayers find out whether changes requested to zoning and other district plan features will have an impact on their land, or on any location they are interested in.

On Monday this week the Council called for ‘further submissions’ on nearly 1,000 submissions that it received following notification of its Proposed Waikato District Plan (Stage 1) in July last year.

Chief Executive Gavin Ion says, “The District Plan is an important document that tells our community how the district’s land can be used, developed and subdivided. The new online map tool is designed to assist the public, particularly affected landowners, to decide whether or not they wish to lodge a further submission.”

The map tool can be found online at www.waikatodistrict.govt.nz/pdp-map-tool. It enables you to select a property or area to find out whether it is subject to an original submission that:

• seeks a change of zoning to the land and/or

• seeks changes to the district plan map overlays including Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) and landscape areas, heritage items, walkways, indicative roads, and other designations such as airport overlays and noise control boundaries.

A further submission then allows you to support or oppose other people’s submissions, to comment on how a submission may impact you, and to have your views heard alongside the original submission. The period for further submissions is open until 9am on Monday 27 May 2019.

Waikato District Council is one of the first councils in the country to launch an online map tool of this kind to assist the public to participate in its district plan review, and it’s a first for the TechnologyOne IntraMaps software employed. Other councils, notably Queenstown Lakes District Council and Dunedin City Council, have also developed similar tools for their district plan reviews.

Not every submission can be mapped geographically, and some mapped areas are indicative only, so the Council recommends that anyone using the online map tool also refer to the original submissions for full details. For example, the online map tool does not identify submissions that:

• seek to retain the zoning as shown in the notified Proposed District Plan; or

• have requested overlays be deleted in their entirety across the district; or

• have requested zones or overlays be added or deleted but haven’t clarified the area affected

The Council encourages anyone making a further submission to do it online through the Council’s website www.waikatodistrict.govt.nz, but hard copies of the submission form are also available from all Council offices and libraries, or you can phone 0800 492 452 to request one.

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