Resource Management Services. 1. Introduction. 1.1 Background and Rationale for the Council s Involvement

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1 Resource Management Services 1. Introduction 1.1 Background and Rationale for the Council s Involvement The Council s responsibilities with regard to resource management stems from the provisions of the Resource Management Act The purpose of the Act as set out in Section 5 is to promote the sustainable management of natural and physical resources. Broadly speaking, sustainable management means managing the use of resources in a way which enables the community to provide for its social, economic, and cultural wellbeing and for its health and safety, while sustaining the potential of resources to meet the needs of future generations. To fulfil its obligations, the Act requires the Council to identify, and give expression to the meaning of sustainability in the District. To this end, the Council prepared a Proposed District Plan in the mid- 199 s. Further details regarding the District Plan process are described elsewhere in this document. The Plan identifies the significant environmental issues facing the District and sets out the objectives, policies and methods that Council has adopted to achieve integrated resource management. The methods include rules which govern the use and development of land and other resources in the District. Section 9 of the Act determines that land may not be used in a manner that contravenes a rule in a District Plan and may not be subdivided, unless allowed by a resource consent granted by the Council. It is the function of Council s Resource Management Team, operated through the Environmental Services Division, to: 24 - Advise the public on the requirements of the Act and the provisions of the District Plan; - Process, assess, and make recommendations (either to Executive Officers under delegated authority or to the Hearings Commission), in respect of applications for resource consents; - Monitor compliance with consent conditions; - Investigate breaches of the District Plan and the Act; and: - Take enforcement action when justified. This document summarises the Council s long-term management approach for the continued provision of Resource Management Services to the community. All of the figures are expressed in dollar values as at 3 th June 24 and, unless stated to the contrary, are in GST exclusive terms. 1.2 Community Outcomes to Which the Activity Contributes The community outcomes to which the resource management activity primarily contributes are: Table 1 - Resource Management and Community Outcomes Community Outcome Safe and Healthy Communities Strong and Vibrant Communities How the Resource Management Activity Contributes By ensuring that no resource consents are granted for unsafe or unhealthy activities, or for activities that exacerbate natural hazards; By ensuring that statutory processes are streamlined to avoid hindrances to

2 Economic growth Community Outcome How the Resource Management Activity Contributes district and community development initiatives; By displaying a pro-business culture and by demystifying the consents process. 1.3 The Activity Goal and Principal Objectives The resource management activity goal is: a) To ensure that development is consistent with the objectives and policies of the District Plan, District Plan Rules, and the provisions of the Act; b) To ensure that every resource user meets his/her duty under the Act to avoid, remedy or mitigate any adverse effect on the environment arising from the activity exercised by him/her; and the Councils principal objectives are: a) To assess resource consent applications in terms of the objectives and policies of the District plan, District Plan Rules, and the purpose of the Act; b) Where resource consents are granted, to ensure that appropriate conditions are imposed to avoid, remedy, or mitigate adverse effects on the environment; c) Through compliance monitoring, to ensure that consent holders are in compliance with consent conditions; d) To ensure that the provisions of the District Plan are not being breached by resource users; e) To put in place a sound policy, regulatory, and enforcement regime to ensure that all breaches of the Act, District Plan provisions and resource consent conditions are satisfactorily resolved, including the taking of enforcement action when justified. 2. Levels of Service, Performance Measures, and Reporting Progress Against Community Outcomes The Council has concluded that a fair bit of work needs to be done to improve the way that it presently monitors and reports its performance in relation to resource management services. Council will continue to monitor and report its actual performance against the following measures: Table 2 - Performance Measures Performance Measures Process all resource consents within the statutory timeframes. Process resource consents for minor land-use activities such as yard encroachments or other minor deviations form the development controls, removal of trees protected under the general protection rules, temporary signage for gala and other events, relocation of second-hand buildings, etc. within 1 working days. Assess compliance of applications for building consents with District Plan provisions within three working days. Monitor compliance with conditions of all consents granted within 12 months of being Performance Measure / Target % 8% % 25

3 exercised. Investigate all alleged breaches of the Act, District Plan, or consent conditions. Take enforcement action against confirmed breaches of the Act, District Plan or consent conditions in accordance with Council s Enforcement Policy. 3 Working days The primary targets and measures (modified in such a way as may be appropriate after considering the outcome of the survey of resource consent holders) will be reported in the Annual Report each year in a form similar to that shown below. Other statistical information relating to performance may also be reported. CONSENTS LAND-USE SUBDIVISION / 21/2 23/4 YEAR Figure 1 - Number of Consents processed per year Figure 3 - Split between Notified and Non-notified Consents 18 CONSENTS / 2/1 21/2 22/3 23/4 YEAR CONSENTS / 2/1 21/2 22/3 23/4 YEAR NOTIFIED NON-NOTIFIED Figure 2 - Split between Landuse and Subdivision Consents 26

4 Figure 4 - Percentage of Consents Processed within Statutory Time-Frame % / 2/1 21/2 22/3 23/4 YEAR 3. The Existing Situation Described 3.1 Public Resource Consent Systems The Council s Resource Consents Team processes approximately resource consents per year. The number of consents processed within the statutory time-frames has in the past dropped down to as low as 8%, but is presently close to %. The Team comprises two full-time Planners, a Resource Consents Officer and a Monitoring and Enforcement/ Environmental Health Officer. In addition, the Council employs the services of a senior contract planner to assist the Team where necessary. Administrative back-up for the resource management service is provided by Council s Customer Services Team. The team operates from the Te Aroha Council Offices and performs the following functions: - Advises the public on the requirements of the Resource Management Act and the District Plan; 27 - Assists applicants in preparing resource consent applications; - Processes resource consent applications; - Assesses resource consent applications - Reports on and makes recommendations regarding resource consent applications; - Facilitates pre-hearing meetings; - Presents recommendations to the Hearings Commission; - Monitors compliance with consent conditions; - Investigates breaches of the Act and the District Plan; - Follows up on breaches and takes enforcement action when necessary. 4. Maintenance and Operating 4.1 Council to Continue to Operate The Council is obliged under the Act to consider resource consent applications to use land in a manner not permitted by the District Plan and to subdivide land. Consequently, the Council will continue to provide resource management services for the foreseeable future.

5 Figure 5 Proposed District Operating & Maintenance Costs ($ ) Proposed District Operating & Maintenance Costs Operating Issues The major operating issue facing the Council in providing resource management services to the District is the ability to attract and retain suitably qualified staff. The present arrangement where the expertise of full-time planners is supplemented by senior contract staff has enabled the Council to provide a consistent quality of service. To ensure a continuation of the level of service, this arrangement may well be required to be continued for the foreseeable future. 4.3 Business Continuity / Emergency Management The Council has established networks with a number of Resource Management Consultants with knowledge of the District and the District Plan provisions. If necessary, the Council will be able to draw on these resources by means of outsourcing of the resource management service in order to provide business continuity or emergency management. 5. Future Demand Trends during the past five years (refer to the graphs in Paragraph 2 above), have shown a stable demand for resource management services in the District. Therefore, a major increase in the number of consents required to be processed is not expected in the foreseeable future. Minor changes to the Resource Management Act were promulgated in 23. The changes have made provision for limited notification of resource consent applications under certain circumstances. This has enabled the streamlining of the planning process in some circumstances. No major new changes to the legislative environment which will impact upon the future demand for resource management services are expected in the foreseeable future. 6. New Capital Expenditure 6.1 Proposed Future Capital Works Programme The Resource Consents Team is a major user of the Council s Geographic Information System (GIS), and in addition makes use of the Resource Consents Module within the Corporate Vision suite of programmes. The GIS system has been expanded in the recent past, particularly with the introduction of up to date colour aerial photography of the entire district. Further expansion of the GIS system to improve efficiency in the field of resource management services is being investigated. Particularly, a need exists to link information on resource consents granted, to the GIS database. This will assist with retrieving historical information in general, and specifically during the processing of Land information 28

6 Memoranda (LIM). The work required is being assessed and prioritised by the Information Technology Team, and will be funded from the IT budget. 7. Renewals Capital Expenditure And Depreciation Depreciation will be charged on equipment with a value over $ 5 used in the resource management area. This depreciation will be used to renew equipment as and when required. ($ ) Figure 6 Depreciation vs Renewals Depreciation Vs Renewals Depreciation Renewal Cost 8. Funding the Annual Net Cost Who Pays? The general approach to the funding of the annual net cost of resource management implementation starts from the premise that those who (either directly or indirectly) benefit should pay, however it is recognised that there is a large public good portion resulting from the environmental benefits of resource management implementation. The private good or user pays portion of the 24/5 financial year is 3%, leaving the public good to be rate funded at 7%. The projected total annual costs, and the methods by which they are proposed to be funded for the next ten years, are as indicated in Table 3. A fuller explanation of the funding apportionment rationale is in Volume 3 of the long-term Council Community Plan. This forecast indicates that large cost increases are not anticipated, and that the present net level of public funding is proposed to be retained. 29

7 Table 3 - Summary of Forecasted Financial Performance ($) Operating Depreciation Support Service costs TOTAL EXPENSES User Charges TOTAL REVENUE NET COST OF SERVICE Capital Expenditure New capital Capital and Debt repayment Funding required Funded by Rates General rates (CV & UAGC) Loans Depreciation Total Funding

8 9. Significant Forecasting Assumptions, Uncertainties, and Risk Management 9.1 Assumptions and Uncertainties The most significant assumptions and uncertainties that underlie the approach that has been outlined here are: The Council s District Planners are currently working towards fulfilling their obligations under the Resource Management Act 1991, in processing the Resource Consents within ten working days of receiving the application. It is possible that the District Planners may not achieve % compliance due to certain circumstances beyond their control, such as receiving numerous applications together; The Council currently has a policy in place which is designed to retain the best qualified staff, but there are times when current staff members move on and new staff members have to be trained in order to carry on the duties of the previous staff member This could cause the Council s decision to be appealed at the Environment Court placing a financial burden on the Council. Currently, Council does not have a risk management plan in place, but will be looking at implementing a plan in the future 1. Legislation Resource Management Act 1991 and its amendments. 11. Conclusion The Council will continue to manage its responsibility for resource management implementation by ensuring that adequate resources are available to undertake its duties under the Act and by maintaining networks with private contractors to enable overflow work to be outsourced should this become necessary to ensure business continuity. Central Government amending the Resource Management Act in regards to the resource consent procedure, which could require significant changes within the Council s own policies and processes. 9.2 Risk Management The most important risk that the Council faces is wrongfully declining a Resource Consent application by misinterpretation of either the District Plan, and/or the Resource Management Act 211