Development Contributions policy update October 2019
Agenda • Welcome and introductions • What has happened in 2019 • What this means for 2020 • Overview of policy review process • Preparing advice to the council • Other areas for consideration • Research on usage of parks and community facilities • Next steps
What has happened in 2019 Contributions Policy 2019 live from 1 st of January • • Changes to the definition of community infrastructure • City Rail Link budget increased • Moving to annual cycle for Contributions Policy review
What this means for 2020 • Potentially two rounds of consultation on the Development Contribution Policy • Round 1 ‒ Changes to community infrastructure projects ‒ Changes to the City Rail Link Project https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2019/05/GB_20190502_AGN_8227_AT_WEB.htm • Round 2 ‒ Annual cycle review based on adopted Annual Plan/Long Term Plan budgets
Overview of policy review process Round 1 • Report on proposed changes and recommendation to consult to council Planned for February 2020 • Formal consultation on proposed changes Planned for February - March 2020 • Amended Contributions Policy considered by the council for adoption Planned for May 2020
What do you think? • Local Government (Community Well-being) Amendment Act 2019 Inclusion of public amenities ‒ Proposed additional inclusions at this stage ‒ Libraries, recreation centres (including pools), community youth facilities ‒ • What do you think should or shouldn’t be included in public amenities?
Moving to annual review cycle Informal Long term plan / Long term plan / consultation Annual budget Annual budget April consultation adopted February June Policy considered Council considers for adoption by the proposed changes council July December Formal Amendments to proposed changes Consultation November August
Other areas for consideration • Residential demand factors • Stormwater • Parks and Community Facilities • Transport Note: Consideration may not result in changes to the policy
Research on usage of parks and community facilities • External researcher to conduct the research • Key focus is to determine the level of use and service provision • Questions will test the use of these facilities by the following groups: ‒ General population ‒ Retirement village independent living ‒ Student accommodation on tertiary sites
Next steps • Report on proposed changes and recommendation to consult to council Planned for February 2020 • Formal consultation on proposed changes Planned for February - March 2020 • Council decision on proposed changes Scheduled for May 2020
Questions
Development Contributions Policy Information sharing The questions, comments and responses captured at the recent information sharing sessions are outlined below. The sessions were held on: Manukau Civic Centre / 31 Wiri Station Road, Auckland Town Hall / Queen Street, Auckland CBD Wednesday, 13 th November from 10.00am – 11.00 am Thursday, 14 th November from 10.00am – 11.00 am General questions Response 1. Why are DCs being charged to fund things like the CRL The CRL is funded in equal shares by central instead of being funded by rates? government and Auckland Council. The council is funding its share with a mix of rates and DCs. The additional investment in the CRL will support growth across the region, including, for example to provide for nine-car trains rather than six-car trains. 2. Is the fuel tax helping fund transport works? What is Yes. the fuel tax paying for if not regional initiatives? Auckland Transport has a list of projects funded by the fuel tax on their website, https://at.govt.nz/about- us/transport-plans-strategies/regional-fuel-tax/ 3. What are the funding sources for a light rail – will be it Light rail is being discussed at the national level. At funded by central or local government? this stage, no decisions have been made by central government. 4. How does the Regional Land Transport Plan timeframe The transport research for development conributions work in with this? is on demand factors and is not linked to the Regional Land Transport Plan. 5. Is there a difference between maintaining a facility Yes. versus funding for a new building or refurbished The maintenance or replacement of an existing asset is facility when it comes to DCs? not funded from DCs. Only the growth component of the capital cost of an asset is included in the policy. 6. DC layers for GIS maps aren’t publicly available. This We will investigate this to see if the DC layers can be would help as the online estimator tool sometimes made available in the public version. shows different funding areas from what is actually invoiced. 7. Developers appreciate the opportunity to speak If the council decides to propose changes to the policy directly to councilors. Will this opportunity be it will determine the most appropriate method for available in the future? engaging with developers after considering the nature of the changes. Developers are welcome to pass on their issues to councilors or council staff. 8. This presentation is too high-level and it does not This presentation was not intended to be highly acknowledge the feedback provided by developers at detailed. We are investigating a broad range of issues the consultation held last year. Providing feedback to based on developers’ feedback. the council is expensive and time consuming. The process is designed to help the council and not developers. The council was to have responded to the issues raised at the consultation in February and this has not happened. There has been no communication on these issues and it seems as if they have been forgotten and that the council is not listening or taking the consultation seriously. 9. Please provide more details about the tertiary We will make available the findings of the research accommodation research. Will the details be shared? when completed. In the meantime, we invite direct feedback from interested parties.
General questions Response 10. Is this the first stage of the retail demand factors No, it is the second stage. We are still working out the work? Research on retail demand factors are unclear. specific details around the research, but we wanted to flag to developers that we are undertaking this work. We will be contacting developers through the Property Council in the first instance. We also invite those who want to provide input to contact us directly by email at Contributions.PolicyTeam@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz 11. Is there a discussion document that outlines what the The council hasn’t determined whether it wishes to council is working on and includes timelines? propose any changes to the policy. If it decides to make any changes we will produce supporting information for consultation. We will continue to work on ways to improve communication with developers. Developers’ General comments It is difficult to see the physical benefits of paying DCs. For e.g. a park was promised in Swanson which is being developed. This helped during the marketing of the development by attracting people who would utilize the future nearby park, but the development is now almost fully finished but the park still hasn’t been built.Concern was expressed about the lack of certainty for developers from annual policy changes. It could result in the creation of pocket communities rather than long term planning of larger developments. Invoicing at the time of resource consent is much appreciated, especially since other councils don’t necessarily do this . The margins are very low in Special Housing Areas and it is difficult to make these developments profitable. The criteria for first home buyers need to change for affordable dwellings SHA areas. The Unitary Plan may need to be reviewed as the first home buyer criteria has been written into the plan. There is a lower demand on infrastructure and a discounted DC price would be appreciated. Community infrastructure questions Response 12. Are projects lumped into one giant pre-2014 group of No. projects? Projects funded by DCs are listed in Schedule 8 to the policy. 13. What happened to projects that were funded before The uncompleted portion of community infrastructure 2014 but were not built until after 2014? investments that weren’t able to be funded under the 2014 legisation were removed from the policy. 14. Will there be a backlog of facilities which will be added No. to the DC policy? The council’s 10-Year Budget includes provision for investment in community infrastructure to serve growth. The policy only includes assets that could be funded by DCs under the 2014 legislation. The 2019 amendments to the legislation allow the council to use DCs to fund a wider range of community infrastructure. The council will need to decide if it wishes to fund the growth component of these assets with DCs. We are interested in your views on which community infrastructure assets should be funded by DCs 15. How are pools dealt with, considering that there are The entry fee to pools funds operating expenditure. conflicting scales of payment, for e.g. some pools DCs can only fund capital costs relating to growth. The being free, others where entry fees are charged? level of DCs for a pool is not affected by whether an entry fee is charged or not.
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