Re notification of Proposed Plan Change 5: Accessible Parking - Further Submissions

Te Tūtohunga Panonitanga 5: Tūnga Waka Whai Huarahi

In 2020, the Government required all councils to remove minimum parking requirements from their District Plans (National Policy Statement - Urban Development 2020: Section 3.38). These provisions were removed from the Whakatāne District Plan (District Plan) in December 2021.

The District Plan currently contains no reference to accessible parking, but instead relies on New Zealand Standards (NZS 4121: 2001) which sets the number of accessible car parks as a ratio of the total number of car parks provided.

This means that changes will need to be made to the District Plan to ensure accessible parking can still be required where appropriate.

Prior to Government's removal of minimum parking provisions from the District Plan, developers were required by the New Zealand Standards (NZS 4121: 2001) to include accessible car parks as a ratio of the total number of car parks provided. Table 1 below shows the ratio of accessible car parks to the total number of car parks as required by NZS 4121:2001.

Table 1: Number of accessible car parks required under NZS 4121:2001

NZS 4121:2001 still applies even with the removal of minimum carparking requirements from the District Plan. This means that if one car park is included in a development, at least one accessible car park must be provided. However, if a developer chooses not to provide any car parks, the Council currently cannot consider whether accessible car parking is appropriate when assessing a resource consent application or require the provision of accessible car parks.

Proposed Plan Change 5: Accessible Parking
Te Tūtohunga Panonitanga 5: Tūnga Waka Whai Huarahi

• Identifies where accessible parking must be provided and sets an absolute minimum number of accessible car parks in those situations. The minimum number complies with the requirements in NZS 4121:2001.
• Comprises 18 minor changes to the District Plan that will enable the Council to consider during the consenting process whether the provision of accessible parking would be appropriate.

If Plan Change 5 is not implemented, decisions around providing accessible car parking will be made by developers and the Council will have no input into the consenting process.

This may result in developers choosing whether or not to provide accessible parking and how many car parks they provide.

Without implementing the proposed Plan Change 5, access and mobility would be limited for some members of the community.  This could prevent them from accessing some businesses and services.

Not to implement Plan Change 5 is considered contrary to the Council's aim to deliver the best possible social and economic outcomes for the community.

History

Proposed Plan Change 5 was initially notified in May 2022 and 1 submission was received. However, in order to ensure that notification requirements were fully met, Plan Change 5 was renotified in May 2023. The initial submission was carried over and 4 new submissions were received. Further submissions were able to be made in September 2023 and 0 were received. 

Four of the submissions were in full support and 1 submission requested amendments. These requests were worked through with the submitter. The submitter and Council planners worked out agreed solutions and with these accepted, no longer wished to be heard at hearing. 

What now - decisions

The next step is for the Hearings Panel to meet on 27 November 2024 at the Whakatāne District Council offices to review the submissions, planner recommendations and make decisions. A decision report will be issued by the Panel after the Hearing. It will be provided to all submitters, who have the option to appeal the decisions to the Environment Court.

Documents

• Summary of Submissions - (PDF, 326 KB)
• Proposed Plan Change 5: Accessible Parking - Section 32 Report - (PDF, 811 KB)
• Document

  s42A report - Appendix 2 - Tracked changes – with recommendations - (371.86 KB)
• Document

  s42A report - Appendix 1 - Tracked changes – NPS conversion - (371.98 KB)
• Document

  s32A report - Appendix 2 – Renotification tracked changes – May 2023 - (329.79 KB)
• Document

  Planners Recommendation (s42A) Report - (499.91 KB)
• Document

  s42A report - Appendix 1 - Tracked changes – NPS conversion - (279.08 KB)

Submissions:

• Submission - Caroline van Leeuwen - (PDF, 90 KB)
• Submission - Disabilities Resource Centre - (PDF, 320 KB)
• Submission - Gina Seay - (PDF, 85 KB)
• Submission - Naomi Freedman - (PDF, 100 KB)
• Submission - Ross Gardiner - (PDF, 436 KB)
• Submission - WAI - (PDF, 245 KB)