3.5 Amenity Print E-mail

3.5.1 Significant Resource Management Issues

  • The District's residents place a high value on their residential privacy and consider that generous access to daylight, sunlight and private open space must be maintained, especially in urban areas.

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  • The District's residents also desire healthy and safe working, living and recreational environments.

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  • The amenity and heritage values of Te Aroha and Matamata could be adversely affected by unsuitable development. It is acknowledged that the special amenity and heritage characteristics would be likely to be lost by rapid change to the physical fabric and the past stability of the built environment is a significant part of its amenity.

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  • Amenity in rural areas has a different character to that of urban areas, in that people commonly both live and work on the land. This may be compromised by rural activities which generate noise, odour, dust and other effects. In general there is a higher degree of acceptance of the effects of legitimate farming. People living in rural areas value the amenity characteristics of privacy, open space, low ambient noise and clean air. In urban areas and in rural areas near large scale rural industry there is an expectation that significant adverse effects on amenity values should be avoided, remedied or mitigated; and in some cases this will justify separation where this cannot be reasonably achieved.

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  • The District's residents and Council are concerned about the ongoing adverse impacts of signage and advertising on the visual amenity and traffic safety of the environment.


3.5.2 AMENITY
Outcome Sought
(Objectives)		 Solutions
(Policies)		 Implementation
(Methods)
Refer to the following sets of controls and reasons for chosen methods		 Explanations and Reasons
for Objectives and Policies
1. DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS
O1 To maintain and enhance a high standard of amenity in the built environment without constraining development innovation and building variety. P1 To ensure that development in residential and rural areas achieves adequate levels of daylight admission, privacy and open space for development sites and adjacent properties. The maintenance and enhancement of amenity values is a particular matter which the RMA requires Council to have regard to [S7(a)].

Objectives O1 and O2 recognise that people’s perceptions of amenity standards are highly dependent upon the standard of development which occurs and in particular the need to maintain and improve levels of privacy, open space and access to daylight and sunlight.

Council is concerned that traditional building controls may have stifled building innovation and variety and may not have achieved desired outcomes as successfully as alternative management techniques.

Accordingly Policies P1-P5 reflect the findings of extensive consultation and an evaluation of a range of possible management techniques which indicated that the adoption of performance standards is desirable provided that flexibility to achieve compliance via a range of innovative design techniques is maintained. The policies also reflect the need to formulate standards which reflect the particular uses and character of different parts of the District.
O2 To minimise the adverse effects created by building scale or dominance, shading, building location and site layout. P2 To minimise the effects created by building scale, overshadowing, and building bulk in business, industrial and recreational areas.
P3 To maintain the open space character of residential and rural areas by ensuring that development is compatible in scale to surrounding activities and structures.
P4 To recognise that the low density urban form in the District’s towns contributes to the amenity and character of the area.
P5 To provide for development within the District in a manner that encourages flexibility and innovation in design and variety in the built form while achieving the anticipated environmental results.
ANTICIPATED ENVIRONMENTAL RESULTS
  1. Improved public perception of general amenity in the built environment, particularly urban areas (typical performance measure: reduction in number of submissions lodged (and complaints related to) development proposals - see also Section 14, Monitoring).
  2. Evolution of a more interesting and varied urban form (typical performance measure: extent to which development applications comply with and exceed minimum standards - see also Section 14, Monitoring).
2. DESIGN, APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT
O1 To ensure that the design and appearance of buildings and sites is in keeping with the character of the surrounding townscape and landscape. P1 To encourage a high standard of on-site amenity in residential, business, recreational and industrial areas.

 

Objective O1 recognises that people’s perceptions of amenity is influenced by their impressions of the design and appearance of buildings and sites. In particular ample open space and attractive landscaping are valued environmental assets.

Objective O2 recognises the particular urban characteristics of Te Aroha and Matamata which give those settlements special identity. Te Aroha is renowned for its heritage buildings and features. Matamata has generous public open space and wide streets are modelled on a "garden city" concept.

Policies P1-P6 seek to enhance amenity through the promotion of high standards of building design, appearance, site layout and landscaping. The policies also seek to reinforce the special character of Te Aroha and Matamata while promoting a degree of design flexibility within a framework which seeks to maintain a consistent urban form.

To encourage innovation and building variety development amenity incentives have been identified as the best mechanism available for meeting the environmental objectives in comprehensive residential developments.
O2 To recognise and promote the special urban character of Te Aroha and Matamata and to develop the urban character of Morrinsville. P2 To recognise and enhance the historical character of the built form at Te Aroha.
P3 To recognise and enhance the open space "garden city" character of the built form at Matamata.
P4 To achieve a compatible and consistent urban form through the utilisation of design guidelines for special character areas.
P5 To encourage a varied and interesting built form by supporting initiatives and providing development amenity incentives for comprehensive and innovative subdivision and development design.
P6 To maintain and enhance the predominant domestic character of residential areas.
ANTICIPATED ENVIRONMENTAL RESULTS
  1. Maintenance and enhancement of building, site and visual appearance in rural, residential and business areas.
  2. Establishment of increasing number of innovative and comprehensive residential development with generous amenity provision.
  3. Retention of the special heritage character of Te Aroha, the "garden city" character of Matamata and introduction of the Mainstreet concept in Morrinsville.
3. NUISANCE EFFECTS
O1 To ensure that residences are free from the effects of unreasonable and excessive noise, odour, dust, glare and vibration. P1 To protect residential and rural amenity by the use of performance standards for noise, glare, odour, particulates and vibration control which generally ensure that generated effects do not exceed background or ambient levels. Residential amenity can be seriously impacted upon by nuisance effects of odour, noise, dust, glare and vibration. In general residents have a right to live in an environment free from nuisance.

Objective O1 and Policy P1 recognise the higher amenity values necessary about residences.

In rural, working and recreational environments, minor odour, noise, dust, glare and vibration effects can normally be accepted provided that a healthy and safe environment is maintained. The objectives and policies recognise that legitimate farming activities in particular can create minor nuisance effects and a degree of acceptance is warranted. However issues associated with agricultural spray application and drift require particular attention. Objective O6 and Policy P4 recognise the potential for adverse effects from traffic noise and disturbance. While traffic noise abatement will be necessary along major arterial routes, in general it is desirable to promote and encourage increased usage of alternative transport modes.
O2 To provide healthy and safe working, living and recreational environments by avoiding and mitigating the effect of excessive noise, vibration, odour and dust. P2 To ensure that activities in business, rural, industrial and recreational areas avoid, remedy or mitigate generated effects to maintain and enhance a healthy, safe and pleasant environment and take all reasonable steps to internalise any nuisance effects.
O3 To recognise the existing character of rural areas and acknowledge that some adverse effects will arise from rural activities that may require management. P3 To reinforce existing mitigation measures, and to encourage those who generate the nuisance effect to maintain and enhance those measures, including seperation between industry, public or designated works or intensive farming operations and residential zones and the notional boundaries about rural residences.
O4 To ensure that rural activities which generate minor nuisance effects are not unreasonably compromised by the proximity or action of neighbouring land-users. P4 To avoid, remedy or mitigate significant adverse noise, odour, dust, glare and vibration effects generated by rural activities and other activities in rural areas.
O5 To ensure that the effects of chemical and effluent spray application and spray drift are avoided, remedied or mitigated P5 To avoid, the establishment of high polluting industries in the District.
O6 To ensure that land use activities are located and sited in a manner that recognises existing transportation routes. SP1 To support initiatives aimed at reducing the use of toxic agricultural chemicals and sprays.
ANTICIPATED ENVIRONMENTAL RESULTS
  1. Reduced incidence of nuisance affecting residential, business and recreational areas (typical performance measure: reduction in number of complaints lodged with Council - see also Section14, Monitoring)
  2. Longer term improvements in environmental health and safety due to reduced rural nuisance and improved management of agricultural spray usage and application.
4. SIGNAGE
O1 To minimise the adverse effects of signage on the character of rural, residential, industrial and business areas. P1 To restrict the number and size of signs in rural, residential, industrial and business areas to avoid cluttering of the landscape. Objectives O1 and O2 recognise that signage and advertising can detrimentally impact upon perceived amenity standards, particularly in rural and residential areas.

The contribution made by signs to the vitality and viability of a street frontage in business zones, the need for signage appropriate to the amenity of the area and to the activity, and the functions served by such signs is recognised.

Policies P1 and P2 are designed to restrict signage to those that are clearly ancillary to on-site activity.

Policy P3 recognises that in some special character areas (e.g. main street Te Aroha) additional signage controls are necessary to protect particular amenity features.

Policy P4 identifies the need to mitigate against new forms of air space advertising such as blimps and balloons, while Policy P5 seeks to maintain traffic safety along arterial roadways by carefully monitoring signage visible from roads.
O2 To ensure that signs and business advertising do not compromise visual amenity and traffic safety. P2 To avoid the visual impact and traffic safety impacts of general advertising by adoption of a site dependency criteria for all signage for rural, residential and business areas.
P3 To utilise design guidelines to ensure that signage is sympathetic to other building forms in special character areas.
P4 To avoid the adverse effects of advertising in the air space over and above land activities.
P5 To ensure that traffic safety is maintained by carefully managing the location and design of any signs visible from arterial and principal roadways.
ANTICIPATED ENVIRONMENTAL RESULTS
  1. Minimal adverse visual amenity and traffic safety effects from signs and advertising (typical performance measures: reduction in number of complaints related to size and location of signs. Reduction in number of arterial road accidents which can be attributed to advertising or signage distractions - see also Section14, Monitoring).

 

 

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