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Orākei
Local Board
03 July 2014
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Development
contributions charge for Oceania Football Confederation Incorporated to develop
sports fields at 62-80 College Road
File No.: CP2014/14453
Purpose
1. To report on the decision by
Council staff not to waive development contributions for Oceania Football
Confederation Incorporated’s development of sports fields and facilities at
62-80 College Road.
Executive
summary
2. The Orakei Local Board made a
presentation to the Finance and Performance Committee requesting contributions
be waived for this development.
3. Development Contributions for
the development have been assessed at $495,725.79 ($492,240.96 for stormwater).
The development is creating 35,420m² of impervious
surface area for two artificial turfs and training areas, along with a sports
complex. This impervious surface has no ability to absorb stormwater runoff.
4. Stormwater will flow from the
site into the council’s network. The consent for the development requires the
applicant to construct some stormwater management capacity on the site. This
is because the amount of impermeable surface being created exceeds that
expected when the Council upgraded the stormwater network in the area to
provide for development. This upgrade was to be paid for by developers through
development contributions.
5. The Development contributions
policy does not provide for the waiver of contributions. If the council wished
to waive contributions it would need to make an “inconsistent decision” under
section 80 of the Local Government Act 2002 and identify the reasons for the
inconsistency.
6. Staff have recommended not to
waive the development contributions because it would:
· be inconsistent with the impact of
the development on council’s infrastructure
· set a precedent for the grant of
other waivers with associated risk to council revenue and integrity of
council’s development contributions policy
· provide additional funding to an
external party’s project without appropriate transparency
· require the foregone funding to be
made up from either:
- other
developers
- ratepayers
- reduced
spending on other projects.
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Recommendation/s
That the Orākei Local
Board:
a) receives the report.
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Comments
7. Oceania Football Confederation
(OFC) is funding a development on land owned by Auckland Council at 62-80
College Road, St John. OFC will take a 30 year lease on the property when
Stage One is completed. The development will create two football fields and
training areas on artificial turf, along with a building complex including
changing rooms, an indoor arena and offices. The artificial turf is being laid
over concrete. This will capture stormwater that flows to onsite ponds and
then the council’s network. OFC are the consent holders.
8. Auckland Council recently
acquired Colin Maiden Park (19 hectares) that adjoins this development, as open
space land – at a cost of $60m to Council.
9. The 2012 Contributions Policy
does not make provision for any waiver of contributions. The council made this
decision as development contributions are a cost recovery tool and a waiver
would transfer the cost of that development onto other developers or rate
payers.
Assessment
of development
10. Contributions are payable where a
development places demand on the council’s infrastructure.
11. In response to the growth
expected in the area, as part of the development of Stonefields, the council
invested in a major upgrade of the stormwater network. No development would
have been possible without the upgrade to the network. The network could not
have managed the stormwater runoff from the additional impervious surface
created by the conversion of the quarry to residential and commercial use. It
was planned that development contributions would fund this investment.
The resource consent for the OFC development, section 42-44
of the R/LUC/2013/3381, requires the construction of stormwater ponds on site.
Onsite ponds are required because the development is proposing a higher level
of intensity/impermeable surfaces than was expected when Council upgraded the
local stormwater network. Stormwater will flow from the ponds to the council’s
network. The onsite mitigation ensures that the:
· level of service of the stormwater
network is not compromised
· appropriate
treatment quality is achieved.
12. The development is creating a
demand on the Council stormwater network due to the proposed connection from
the development into the public network. While the flows from the site will
be limited to the rate(s) set under the Land Use Consent the overall volume
will still discharge to the Council network there. This creates a demand on
the network which is the test for whether development contributions should be
applied.
Comparison
to similar developments
13. A smaller artificial sportsfield
development was recently completed at Michaels Ave. This development had a
different design based on turf over compact gravel. The design requirements
differ because the Michaels Ave turf has wetland surrounding it that can
withstand the stormwater flows which therefore wont’ flow to the council
network.
14. The Michaels Ave turf development
paid a lower contributions charge because:
· development is much smaller scale
· flows to council network are lower
· assessment
was made under former council contributions policies.
Waiver of
contributions
15. If the council wished to waive
contributions it would need to make an inconsistent decision under section 80
of the Local Government Act 2002. This would require the reasons for the
inconsistency of the decision to be recorded.
16. As noted above a demand is being
placed on the stormwater network and accordingly a waiver would need to be for
other reasons e.g. to support the provision of the services to be offered by
the development. If this was the case other sources would need to be found to
replace the lost funding for the stormwater development. This funding would
have to come from either rates or other developments.
17. A waiver would allow for
additional support to be provided to this development ahead of other demands on
ratepayer, or contributions, funding without the opportunity to assess their
relative merits for the Auckland Region.
18. Private development agreements
and grants are alternatives to a waiver for the council to provide additional
support for the OFC development. Both of these choices would require the
council to increase its expenditure. They are more transparent means of
funding and provide an opportunity for this project to be compared to other
spending proposals within the council’s normal planning process and cycle.
19. A private development agreement
usually involves the developer constructing assets which the council purchases
from them. The developer may then use the sale proceeds to fund any
contributions assessed. However, in these circumstances there are effectively
no public assets to purchase as the onsite stormwater ponds are a resource
consent requirement. The council would only be purchasing the wider benefits
from the development of the sports field and associated complex. Given this it
would be better to use a grant. Grants are the appropriate mechanism for
providing this kind of support.
20. Staff do not recommend that OFC
be granted a waiver. If additional support is to be granted to OFC for the
development it should be by way of a grant.
Consideration
Local
board views and implications
21. The Orakei Local Board passed a
motion requesting that Council officers waive the development contribution for
this development.
22. The Board’s request was made
because:
· they considered that an incorrect
assessment of contributions had been made given the onsite stormwater ponds
required under the resource consent
· the OFC has agreed to pay for the
development of the sports field and complex, and that a further charge should
not be applied to them.
Maori
impact statement
23. The recommendations in this report
have no impact on Maori.
Implementation
24. There are no implementation
issues associated with the recommendations in this report.
Attachments
There are no attachments for
this report.
Signatories
