NEWS #8 Section sizes at Wainui-Okitu could fall to 800 square metres if reticulation goes ahead . . . and there would be a height restriction of nine metres.

Moves to retain character
Friday, 14 March 2007 By John Jones

Section sizes at Wainui-Okitu could fall to 800 square metres if reticulation goes ahead . . . and there would be a height restriction of nine metres.

These are the two main recommendations of a proposed plan change that won the approval of the planning and environment committee yesterday and will now go to the full council.

Committee chairwoman Pat Seymour said it was felt the chosen sizes would allow Wainui-Okitu to keep its present character,

One of the issues around reticulation of the area was that people wanted to know what section and height restrictions would be imposed.

That information was needed before they could make a final decision on reticulating the area. It was also important that the information was available at the same time as the reticulation was being considered.

There was concern in the area that reticulation could lead to intensive development. If reticulation did not go ahead, the plan change would not proceed, she said.

Section size at the moment is effectively 1000 square metres, the minimum area on which a septic tank system can operate.

The committee made one change to the plan changes recommended by senior planner Kim Smith, removing a maximum height limit on boundary fences of 1.2 metres.

Pat Seymour said the fence height limit was far too restrictive. She had driven through the area and saw only seven or eight fences that would exceed the limit.

Kim Smith said the height restriction had been recommended as part of the landscape assessment of the area.

Pat Seymour said properties in the area were expensive and no one was going to put up something that was ugly.

Kathy Sheldrake said the emphasis should be on encouragement rather than enforcement, which was prescriptive.

Alan Davidson said the nine-metre height limit would be about the height of a three-storey building. It would preclude anybody from building a hotel.

Pat Seymour said anyone wanting to do that would have to seek a resource consent.

Gary Hope pointed to a clause that indicated when restoration plantings were carried out, preference should be given to indigenous species. He asked if the "botanical police" would be going about making people pull up their daisies.

District policy team leader Brenda O'Shaughnessy said it would only apply to restoration planting.

Pat Seymour said it was important that Wainui people had the information about the proposed changes so they could make informed responses. She said flyers should be sent to all residents.

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