Consultation open on Development Contributions Policy update
Consultation open on Development Contributions Policy update
Hamilton has experienced strong growth in recent years which requires capital investment in our parks, roads, water, wastewater and stormwater services to meet the current and future needs of the city.
The Council’s Development Contributions (DC) Policy allows it to recover a fair and equitable portion of these costs from developers. The Policy must be reviewed every three years or more often if changes are required.
The Council is proposing several key changes to the existing Policy. Public consultation on the updates opened today and runs until Monday 29 April 2019.
Key changes include introducing a capped charge for DCs for industrial, commercial and retail development in Rotokauri, adding some further capital projects with a growth component into the calculations for DCs, reviewing estimated costs from the last financial year (replacing them with actual costs where these are known), and changing some definitions in the policy.
A change to DC remissions in the Central Business District (CBD) is also proposed. A full CBD remission was first introduced in the 2013/2014 Development Contributions Policy. Through the 2018-28 10-Year Plan the Council decided to phase this remission out across three years. This meant a 66% remission in the current 2018/19 Policy, reducing to 33% in 2020/21, and removed altogether from 1 July 2021.
Last week the Council resolved to re-phase the CBD remission to a 66% remission from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2021, when the remission is removed completely. The decision means developers would pay one third of DC costs in the CBD for the next two years and full DCs after that.
This change is intended to increase development feasibility and help continue to transform Hamilton's central city into a more vibrant and prosperous centre for the Waikato.
Consultation information and the proposed policy is available from Hamilton City Libraries, the Council’s Municipal Building or online at www.hamilton.govt.nz/haveyoursay.