District Plan - Plan Change 2 - Pukehāngi Heights

The change from rural to urban use will result in works being staged over several years to undertake bulk earthworks, build roads, establish parks, walkways and stormwater management areas, install underground services and construct new homes and other buildings.

There are foreseeable effects from land development activities including movement of construction machinery to site, noise and vibration, visual changes, and air and water borne sediment. These effects will be temporary and can be reduced through careful site management.

As outlined above, specific controls on construction traffic accessing Matipo Avenue are proposed.

Large scale earthworks are controlled under a Regional Plan by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, who place strict conditions on the control of dust and sediment runoff.

Construction noise is managed by the District Council under the District Plan. A widely accepted New Zealand Standard (NZS6803:1999) will be used for the assessment of construction noise. Noise management plans will be required to ensure that noise levels are met including by limiting working hours and through the selection of appropriate machinery.

Feedback on draft Plan Provisions included concerns about vibration effects during land development. Vibration effects are not currently controlled by the District Plan. They may be indirectly controlled through the construction earthworks process, but there is no explicit recognition of this issue in the Development Code. Otherwise, vibration effects are managed through civil liability, primarily on a reactive basis. The proposed provisions include specific standards for managing vibration effects, alongside noise.

Direction to enter the Streamlined Planning Process to prepare a change to the Rotorua District Plan (Plan Change 2: Pukehāngi Heights) Click here for a copy of the letter from Hon David Parker, Minister for the Environment,

Submissions are made under the Resource Management Act 1991. The submissions and the information contained in them will be held by the Rotorua Lakes Council and will also be available at Rotorua Lakes Council's Customer Centre, the Rotorua library and on the Rotorua Lakes Council website.

By taking part in this public submission process submitters will, for the purposes of the Official Information Act 1982, be understood to have waived privacy interests in their submission.

Submitters are also reminded that the information supplied in written submissions may be personal information within the meaning of the Privacy Act 1993. Submitters are advised that under the Privacy Act that they have the right to enquire as to the personal information held by the Council and request that it be accurate.