Richard Hills: Auckland councillor on the Government requiring larger apartments to be built near key CRL stations

An Auckland councillor says the Government requiring larger apartments in the neighbourhood of new CRL train stations is in line with other council requests. 

The Government's announced Resource Management Bill amendments to allow apartments 10 and 15 storeys high around some central city terminals.

Councillor Richard Hills says it ties into requests to remove medium-density residential housing rules.

"We've also asked if we can downzone or restrict some areas in flooding and hazard zones - this change will legally allow us to do that, but on the proviso that we increase capacity elsewhere."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Auckland what about this? The government has announced it's going
to force Auckland Council to allow new developments of at
least fifteen stories high close to key Key train stations.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Now.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
The new rules will apply to developments within walking distance
of Mangafo, Kingsland and Morning Side stations, while a ten
story limit will apply around Mount Albert and Baldwin av stations.
Richard Hills is an Auckland City councilor and with us now.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hey, Richard, sure, how's it going?

Speaker 1 (00:27):
Oh good? I think there are going to be some
people very upset about this. What do you think?

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, so this is in line kind of with what
we've been asking for on things like the MDRS. I
think we've talked about that before that enabled threes dwelling
three stories on every single property across the city, with
us to remove that. We've also asked if we can
down zone or restrict some areas in flooding and hazard
zones for the last two years. This change will legally

(00:53):
allow us to do that, but on the proviso that
we increase capacity elsewhere, which we were going to do
around train Bought corridor stations anyway. But then today's has
also sort of been more specific around the fact that
the minister would like us to be doing fifteen and
ten stories around those stations that are closer to the
city and of course close to the five point five

(01:15):
billion elliarza worth of investment in the city railing.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
What is walking distance?

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Walking distance is whatever a council chooses it is. So
it's about ten minutes so at this minute, about two
k about one one k so walking distance, so it's
about eight hundred meters from those stations or twelve hundred
meters from the city center.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
Okay, So is this going to hit some areas with
villas in Mount Eden, for example.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
It is likely too. Under the the way the government.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
I hear the way you answer that question, Richard, you
know that this is going to affect some villas and
people are going to be pissy, aren't they.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, so there was already requirements now for us.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Don't don't explain, just answer it. Don't you think people
are going to get really irritated by others.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
The council needs to vote on it first and then
go out for consultation at the end of the year.
Through I thought the.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Government was also you do you get the final SAT.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
But they know well they will force us to do
put notify this in the plan change. So the requirements
will mean that we have to mirror what the requirements are.
So yes, I think if we kept all the special
character around those stations and it was like, well nothing
is fifteen meters in, the Minister would be scratching his head, going,
you haven't done your job here. So there will be

(02:34):
a conversation to have with those communities that yes, you
are living right next to a station. It's important that
more people have access to it, but there will be
some you know, heritage homes and different things protected.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Now do we have how many? I mean we must
have some buildings in mounted and that a fifteen stories
high or no?

Speaker 2 (02:53):
No, no, no, I don't.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
Of course it's not because have you've seen how high
a fifteen story building is? Rich it?

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, it's about fifty meters m.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
That's going to dwarf everything. Will it be even as high?
Is it as high as Mount Eden?

Speaker 2 (03:06):
Oh? I don't actually know. The direct.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Gives us to another problem because I thought everybody's supposed
to have an eyeline to Mount Eden, So are we
going to block people's view of Mount Eden?

Speaker 2 (03:17):
So there'll be some areas that are not in the
view shafts. There are another issues around the view shafts
that may not be in this plan change. We will
look to it. But the timing, you know, the minister's
requirements to have this done by election day October tenth
is will make it difficult to do that. But they
have discussed with the next iteration of the RMA changes

(03:39):
in two years time that we will have to relook
at all the view shafts to see if they are
you know, holding back housing and economic growth, and if
they are still relevant, if there's things blocking them, So
that all needs to be considered. But we do as
much as we can around those view shafts anyway to
comply with the requirements of the government.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
All right, now tell me your person a view. Do
you love this or hate this?

Speaker 2 (04:03):
I love the fact that a lot of people say
to me, why the heck are we building out? And
god knows where and why are we building on this
back of this property significant amounts of density where there's
no infrastructure, So it makes sense, like any of the city,
major city in the world, to build around, you know,
people talk about Melbourne and Sydney and all the sorts
of things that there does need to be some balance around.

(04:25):
When we've got really expensive infrastructure, we're all investing in
our taxes and rates too, that may not have good
ridership or good access to because no one can build
around it. So it makes sense to have some areas
that are really good heritage, special character, et cetera, et cetera,
but also some areas that need to have the focus
around housing and jobs and walkable access to those stations.

(04:47):
Otherwise it makes it difficult to know why we invested
in it in the first place.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
Richard, thank you, appreciate your time, as always, look after yourself.
That's Richardhill's Auckland counselor.

Speaker 2 (04:56):
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