Waived development contributions for exemplary sustainable houses

We are trying to petition Auckland Council to build on the excellent example set by other NZ Councils, and to in fact take the lead in New Zealand, by waiving the development contributions and consenting fees for exemplary sustainable buildings.

Worldwide enormous precedence has been set by local council and government bodies where by sustainable building is encouraged through waived/reduced planning or consenting fees. In New Zealand the Far North District Council reduced the development contributions for the Green Star rated Ngati Hine Childcare Centre in Kawakawa and in Wellington the City Council on 1 July 2015 became the first major city in New Zealand to reward green building through reduced development contributions. They have implemented a standard remission equating to 50% of the development contributions for commercial or mixed developments of greater than 10 equivalent household units that receive 5 Star Green Star Certified Rating or equivalent or higher is available. We also understand that the Hutt City Council is also looking to implement something similar.

Currently exemplary sustainable projects under Auckland Council actually face higher consenting fees than standard projects. The Living House project was advised by a planner that it would cost a lot more to consent and that they needed to be ready to spend additional thousands if I wanted to proceed with seeking Discharge Consent approval (which was required to allow the Living Building Challenge to be targeted). The Living House project team believes that THIS SHOULD NOT BE THE CASE and that Auckland Council should be . encouraging and promoting sustainable building, especially if the exemplary sustainable houses are proposing to reduce their contribution to the overloaded Auckland Infrastructure. Instead it appears that Auckland Council is trying to make it harder and more expensive for home owners to follow this type of path.

The Living House project team is therefore petitioning Auckland Council to embrace sustainability and encourage the adoption of sustainable design through financial incentives as other local authorities and councils worldwide have done.

Specifically we were advocating for Auckland Council to ‘walk the talk’ and financially support the development of exemplary sustainable homes through:
(i) the waiving of consent fees and development contributions for exemplary sustainable homes (which we suggested should be defined as a Living Building Challenge certified dwelling) and
(ii) a 50% reduction in consent fees and development contributions for high performing sustainable homes (which we suggested should be defined as a 9 or 10 Homestar Built rated dwelling).
(iii) a 25% reduction in consent fees and development contributions for sustainable homes (defined as a 7 or 8 Homestar Built rated dwelling).