Updates to a policy that determines how growth is funded in Hamilton is now open for public feedback.

At its 17 March meeting, Hamilton City Council agreed to consult with the community and key stakeholders on three specific updates to its Development Contributions Policy (DC Policy).

The Policy sets out the costs to enable new developments and how these are shared between Council and developers.

The proposed changes consider the feedback received as part of the recent judicial review and include a provision to introduce a partial remission (reduction) of DCs for state-integrated schools.

Chair of Council’s Strategic Growth Committee Councillor Dave Macpherson said Hamilton has an energetic developer community that play a critical role in the growth of our city.

“We want to support developers with clear planning and policies as we know these increase developer confidence and long-term investment in the city,” said Macpherson.

“At the same time the Hamilton community has charged its Council with ensuring there is a fair sharing of the costs of growth, both across the generations and across the different sectors in the city.”

Growth Funding and Analytics Unit Manager Greg Carstens said the proposed Policy includes two technical updates that were part of the judicial review decision and feedback received.

“Last year’s judicial review confirmed that our current policy is robust, and these updates will provide further clarity and confidence for our developer community in the city,” said Carstens.

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“Specifically, we’ve updated the definition of gross floor area to make it easier to understand, including clarification of when the floor area under canopies is charged. We’ve also proposed that stormwater DC charges for large multi-storey residential dwellings be reduced.”

In addition to these technical updates, Council is seeking feedback on the introduction of a discount, known as a ‘remission’ in the Policy, on DCs for developments done by state-integrated schools. Currently, state-integrated schools are treated like commercial developers under the Policy. The proposed changes mean state-integrated schools receive a partial remission for developments that meet certain criteria such as public access and community benefit.

Mr Carstens said no significant changes to the Policy are proposed as part of this update.

The full Policy will be reviewed in full in mid-2024 as part of the 2024-34 Long-Term Plan.

Hamiltonians are invited to have their say on the proposed changes by Thursday 14 April 2022. Information on the updates and the proposed Policy is available from Hamilton City Libraries, the Council’s Municipal Building or online at hamilton.govt.nz/haveyoursay.

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