3.5 Amenity
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.
- The District's residents also desire healthy and safe working, living and recreational environments.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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. |
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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
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| 2. | Design, appearance and character | ||||
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O1
O2
O3 |
To ensure that the design and appearance of buildings and sites is in keeping with the character of the surrounding townscape and landscape.
To recognise and promote the special urban character of Te Aroha and Matamata and to develop the urban character of Morrinsville.
To ensure that the design of subdivisions |
P1 | To encourage a high standard of on-site amenity in residential, business, recreational and industrial areas. |
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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.
Subdivision should result in the rural
Clustering of lots may be appropriate in specific circumstances where it can be demonstrated that a more appropriate |
| 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. | ||||
| P7 | To ensure that the rural landscape, character and amenity values are maintained by avoiding inappropriate adverse effects, including cumulative adverse effects, from subdivision and potential future development. |
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| P8 | To ensure that the placement of new lots and/or building platforms are not located on prominent ridgelines or hillside faces where the visibility of future development can adversely affect the rural landscape and character. |
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| P9 | Subdivision, use and development that is not primarily related to productive rural activities or requiring a rural location shall occur predominately in urban areas. |
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ANTICIPATED ENVIRONMENTAL RESULTS
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| 3. | Nuisance effects | ||||
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O1
O2
O3
O4
O5
O6 |
To ensure that residences are free from the effects of unreasonable and excessive noise, odour, dust, glare and vibration.
To provide healthy and safe working, living and recreational environments by avoiding and mitigating the effect of excessive noise, vibration, odour and dust.
To recognise the existing character of rural areas and acknowledge that some adverse effects will arise from rural activities that may require management.
To ensure that lawfully established activities which generate minor nuisance effects are not unreasonably compromised by the proximity or action of neighbouring land-users or non-rural
To ensure that the effects of chemical and effluent spray application and spray drift are avoided, remedied or mitigated.
To ensure that subdivision and land use |
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. |
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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. |
| 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. | ||||
| 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. | ||||
| 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. | ||||
| P5 | To maintain rural amenity while acknowledging that lawfully established activities in the rural area may generate effects such as odour, noise, dust and vibration which are generally not anticipated in urban areas. |
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| P6 | To ensure that appropriate buffers and other mitigation measures are established between incompatible activities and zones. |
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| P7 | To avoid, the establishment of high polluting industries in the District. |
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| SP1 | To support initiatives aimed at reducing the use of toxic agricultural chemicals and sprays. |
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ANTICIPATED ENVIRONMENTAL RESULTS
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| 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. |
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| 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
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