Auckland's central city skyline. Photo: 123RF
New height limits for skyscrapers in central Auckland are too restrictive, except for a few blocks downtown, an advocacy group campaigning for more housing says.
Auckland Council has approved a zoning change for the city centre to allow unlimited building heights for a small section of the central business district and double height limits for the rest of the city centre to 20 storeys, or 72.5 metres.
It expects that will allow four times the number of homes and businesses to be built in the central city.
A map showing the Auckland City centre building height zones, recommended by IHP, including an extension of a Special Height Area. Photo: Supplied/ Auckland Council
But Coalition for More Homes spokesperson Scott Caldwell said limiting most of the city centre to 20 storeys is too restrictive.
"It's a modest improvement but it's really underselling what it could have been," Caldwell said.
"They've allowed for relatively dense towers within the city core... but throughout much of the city centre, which are probably the parts that are most struggling, it's still quite blanket height limits."
The tallest skyscraper in Auckland is the PwC Tower in downtown, which is 39 storeys.
Caldwell said 20 storeys was akin to what is built around shopping centres much further out.
"They reflect the same height limits you'd find in Westgate or Botany... rather than what you'd expect to find in downtown Auckland."
He said a core plank of the business case for the City Rail Link (CRL) was urban redevelopment around the train stations.
"It's hard to see how those benefits that the CRL promised will be realised," he said. "If you're going for 20 [storeys], why not go for 30 or 40, why restrict that near to a multi billion dollar train station?
"It's extraordinarily frustrating, especially given the scale of the investment we're putting into the CRL and the way that needs to unlock the city."
The zoning change relates to Plan Change 78, which council developed in response to the government's direction to increase density in the city.
The plan change was publicly notified in August 2022 and allows council to make changes to its planning rules in the Unitary Plan.
But widescale flooding in early 2023 in areas earmarked for intensification, alongside the scrapping of Auckland Light Rail, put a pause on upzoning - Housing Minister Chris Bishop granted council a one-year extension to notify changes on its new intensification rules.
Photo: Supplied / Ruth Kuo
Plan Change 78 is seen as null and void outside of the city centre: for the rest of the region, the council is working on a new plan change that will take into account natural hazards such as flood prone areas.
For the city centre rezoning, an independent hearings panel established to hear public submissions and evidence on Plan Change 78 made recommendations to council, which were accepted by its Policy and Planning Committee this week.
Mayor Wayne Brown said the changes would unlock development.
"As a city resident, I'm pleased plans to increase density to allow more growth in the central city under Plan Change 78 are now done and dusted. When I look at the swathes of people coming in and out of the city to work every day, this makes a lot of sense. It is also one of three growth areas highlighted in my manifesto."
Councillor Richard Hills chairs the committee and said it would allow for four times as much future growth.
He said the new height limits would encourage development near the new train stations.
"It also supports our investment in the City Rail Link and other city centre upgrades, which is also helping to attract $6 billion of private-sector investment. This further strengthens the city centre's role as a hub for jobs, housing, retail, hospitality, culture and community."
The planning changes will be publicly notified this month, then included in the Unitary Plan, which comes into effect in June.
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