Western Bay residents are being asked for feedback on a proposed council policy for granny flats to contribute fairly towards infrastructure needed to support their district’s growth.

Government changes to national planning and building legislation came into effect in January to make it easier to build qualifying granny flats of up to 70sq m.

This resulted in some granny flat builds no longer requiring resource or building consents.

In a statement, Western Bay of Plenty District Council said this meant it could no longer collect infrastructure costs when granny flats did not require resource consent.

“Council currently collects these costs through financial contributions as part of the resource consent process,” the council said.

“Council is proposing a new Development Contributions Policy specifically for these granny flats, providing another way for them to contribute towards growth-related infrastructure.”

Council general manager regulatory services Alison Curtis said the proposed policy is about keeping the way growth costs are shared as fair and consistent as possible.

“Granny flats can be a great housing option, making it easier for people to provide a home for whānau or renters, and the Government’s changes have reduced ’red tape’ and made them simpler to build,” she said.

“But adding extra homes to properties places additional demand on things like our roads, water services, wastewater networks and reserves. Those infrastructure costs don’t disappear because the consenting requirements have changed,” Curtis said.

“This proposal isn’t about creating an additional cost for people building granny flats. It’s about having a mechanism that allows us to continue recovering an appropriate share of growth-related infrastructure costs, rather than those costs falling more heavily on existing ratepayers.”

WBOPDC said it is one of only a few councils in New Zealand that does not use development contributions.

“Instead, council has traditionally recovered growth-related costs through financial contributions collected through the resource consent process,” the council said.

“The proposed policy would introduce development contributions specifically for granny flats that do not require resource consent. Granny flats that still require resource consent would continue to be assessed for financial contributions under the existing District Plan provisions.”

If the proposed policy goes ahead, each granny flat would be assessed as 0.5 Household Equivalent (HHE) and pay half the standard dwelling contributions – which was consistent with council’s approach for similar minor residential dwellings requiring resource consent.

The amount payable would vary depending on where the property is located and the infrastructure services available in that area.

When a property owner applies for a Project Information Memorandum (PIM), or building consent, a notice setting out the development contribution fee payable will apply.

Curtis said the council wants to hear from the community before making a final decision.

“We think it’s important that development continues to contribute fairly towards the infrastructure needed to support it, but we want to hear what our community thinks about the proposed approach before a final decision is made.”

Feedback is open until 11.59pm on November 20.

People can have their say by visiting council’s Library and Service Centres, emailing [email protected] with “Draft Policy – Granny Flats” in the subject line, or completing an online feedback form at yourplace.westernbay.govt.nz/grannyflats

Petitions will not be accepted as formal feedback. Once consultation closes, the council will review the feedback received to help inform changes to the proposed policy before it is presented to elected members for a final decision.