The first step towards changing 125.3 hectares of land in Hautapu from rural to industrial has started ahead of schedule.
The land is part of Waipā council’s C10 growth cell and is intended for industrial development after 2035.
The cell already contains 56.7ha of industrial zone covered by the Bardowie industrial precinct structure plan.
Tony Quickfall
District Plan and Growth manager Tony Quickfall told the council’s Strategic Planning and Policy committee this week Fonterra was the largest landowner in the C10 cell and wanted to advance rezoning of the land.
“Waipā District Council has sufficient plan-enabled industrial zoned land to cater for industrial growth for short term and the medium term,” he said.
“It gives confidence to landowners to proceed with the plan.”
Activating the cell was not on council’s work programme.
But a regional unitary plan under the Natural and Built Environment Act threatens to thwart the council’s C10 plans.
“This process and timing creates considerable uncertainty for council’s programme of activating and rezoning post 2035 growth cells, and like some of the residential growth cells owners, the landowners of C10 are seeking to proactively advance the rezoning of this cell,” said Quickfall.
Enabling development would expand the land choice, opportunity and availability for a range of industrial activities.
The council previously preferred a private plan change paid for by the landowners.
But collaboration between the landowners was unlikely because they are trade competitors, he said.
The approach agreed with landowners is a draft plan change prepared by them and then handed to the council to progress through the statutory process of notification, submissions and decision.
That would provide landowners with a very high certainty of outcome and give them confidence to prepare the plan change and deliver it to the council by the end of this year.
