Ha es ay O ce PO Box 8823 Havelock North Hawke s Bay 4157 www.hudsonassociates.co.nz john@hudsonassociates.co.nz Ph 06 877-9808 M 021 324-409 A division of Hudson Group Ltd REVIEW OF LANDSCAPE PROVISIONS For PROPOSED PLAN CHANGE 12 Airport Zone PALMERSTON NORTH CITY COUNCIL Prepared by Hudson Associates Landscape Architects December 2012 1 33
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A division of Hudson Group Ltd Prepared by Hudson Associates Registered Landscape Architects PO Box 8823 Havelock North Ph 06 877-9808 john@hudsonassociates.co.nz www.hudsonassociates.co.nz For Palmerston North City Council Report prepared for Plan Change 12 of the Sectional District Plan Review December 2012 3 35
FIGURES Figure 1: PNCC District Plan Map 6 Figure 2: PNCC District Plan Map Airport Zone 10 Figure 3: Google Earth Aerial of Airport Zone and surroundings 10 Figure 4: Industrial land in the Airport Zone for lease 12 Figure 9: Airport Zone sites available for lease 16 Figure 10: Airport Zone sites available for lease overlain onto FreightGate Concept 16 Figure 13: Google Earth Aerial of Planted Bund displayed in Figure 12 18 4 36
CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 7 METHODOLOGY 7 FreightGate 17 Recession Plane 19 Future Airport Drive 23 5 37
Airport Zone Figure 1 PNCC District Plan Map 6 38
INTRODUCTION 1. Hudson Associates has been engaged by Palmerston North City Council to undertake a review of the Landscape Provisions in relation to the Airport Zone of the District Plan (Figure 1). This will form part of the technical information required for Proposed Plan Change 12 of the Sectional District Plan Review. It is expected that there will be similarities between the outputs of this assessment and those conducted previously as part of the PC1, PC5 & PC9 reviews. METHODOLOGY 2. A site visit was conducted on the 28 th February 2012 in order to collect photographs and become familiar with the Airport Zone. This site visit coincided with the site visit for the Institutional and Industrial Zone Review. The report structure is outlined below and will address the relevant landscape issues of each category. Identi cation of the relevant Objectives and Policies Background Information Assessment of the Carpark Design Assessment of the Residential Interface Assessment of the Streetscape (Frontage requirements) Recommendations 7 39
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OBJECTIVES AND POLICIES 3. The following objectives and policies within the Transportation Chapter of the Operative District plan, under Section 20.4 (The Airport), provide the overriding direction for the Land subject to Airport Zoning. These are; To promote the continued operation of the Palmerston North Airport and to plan for its future development. 1.1 To create a zone to encompass the Airport s existing activities; 1.2 To provide for the future growth and development of the airport and other complementary activities within the Airport Zone. To avoid, remedy or mitigate the existing and potential adverse effects of the Airport s operation. 1.1 To encourage the development of appropriate controls of residential interfaces to avoid, remedy or mitigate any adverse environmental effects. 1.2 To identify and limit the use of any land outside the Airport Zone which is severely affected by airport noise. The Airport, as was earlier mentioned, is an essential element of the City s transport infrastructure and is essential to the continued operation of the City as a distribution centre. It also represents an increasingly important mode of transport for the community. However, the Airport and its associated activities has the opportunity to create signi cant effects on ad acent residents, particularly those in residential areas. In some cases these effects, particularly noise, are suf cient to ma e it inappropriate to allow the land to be used for residential purposes. RULES 4. The following Rules within Section 20.4.5 of the the Transportation Chapter of the Operative District plan are considered to be of the most relevance to this Landscape Assessment; No building or activity shall come within 6 m of any boundary with a residentially zoned site. Compliance with Rules... ar ing rovision tandards for All Zones xcept the Inner usiness Zone...6 Car ar andscape esign 9 41
Railway Road Airport Drive Milson John F Kennedy Drive Figure 2 PNCC District Plan Map Airport Zone Airport Drive Existing Airport Drive Extension Railway Road John F Kennedy Drive Figure 3 Google Earth Aerial of Airport Zone and surroundings 10 42
BACKGROUND INFORMATION 5. The scope of this assessment is focused on reviewing the Residential Interface, Carpark Design and Frontage landscaping requirements of the Airport Zone (Figure 2) in relation to similar recommendations which have already been made as part of the Sectional District Plan Review. The Business Zones, Industrial Zone and Institutional Zone, which were previously considered as part of the Sectional District Plan Review, all have scattered groupings of their relative zoning throughout the city. The Airport Zone is distinct from these other zones as it encompasses only one large site of approximately 150 hectares. 6. The Objectives and Policies of the Airport Zone focus on promoting the continued operation of the airport while limiting the potential adverse effects on neighbouring activities. This is particularly in relation to airport noise and any effects on adjacent residential areas. The methods used to achieve these outcomes, relevant to the landscape provisions within the Airport Zone of the District Plan, are primarily a boundary setback for buildings/activities adjacent to a residentially zoned site and carpark planting provisions which in uence the streetscape and frontage. 7. The Airport is located to the North of Palmerston North City close to the city boundary and is near the residential suburb of Milson which is located adjacent to the southern boundary of the Airport Zone (Figure 2). The Airport is accessed along Airport Drive which connects up to John F Kennedy Drive to the west and Railway Road to the east. The recent extension of Airport Drive (Figure 3), which now connects with Railway Road, completes the surrounding road network hierarchy and provides a coherent transportation route to and from the Airport. The Airport Zone is adjacent to Residential, Rural, Industrial, Recreation and the new North East Industrial Zone. 8. There are a wide range of activities which are provided for within the Airport Zone and these typically have a tendency to be of a scale which is similar to the Industrial Zone (e.g. aviation facilities, warehousing/distribution & car parking) which is to be expected from operations that locate themselves next to the airport. An example of this is the Courier Post operation which will be discussed in the assessment section below, however as a general observation, sites within the Airport Zone are likely to be similar in operation, scale and character to much of the Industrial Zone and therefore require similar provisions in relation to landscape amenity. 11 43
Figure 4 Industrial land in the Airport Zone for lease Figure 5 Artists Impression of the FreightGate Concept Along Airport Drive 12 44
9. During the site visit a sign was observed (Figure 4) which indicated the land south of Airport Drive to the east of McGregor Street has been divided into 14 allotments of industrial land for development. This appears to form part of the FreightGate concept (Figure 5) which Palmerston North Airport is currently developing. It is also likely that in time new development and growth will continue along the recently completed extension of Airport Drive. 10. One of the concerns in regard to landscape amenity within the Airport Zone is that there is a diverse range of associated activities which are not speci cally addressed within the district plan. This means that the restrictions are relatively limited as there is a strong desire to promote growth in this Zone. 13 45
Figure 6 Google Earth Aerial of the Airport Terminal Carpark Figure 7 View from Google Street View of the Airport Carpak 14 46
CARPARK DESIGN 11. Alterations to the Carpark Design rule, which have started to be implemented as part of the Sectional District Plan Review, are an important method of improving the likely landscape and visual amenity outcomes within the Business Zones. A key device in achieving this was to require internal planting within carparking areas at a ratio of 1 tree for every 10 parking spaces. 12. This rule has also been suggested for inclusion within the Industrial Zone and it would be tting to also require internal planting within carparks located in the Airport Zone. As mentioned above, there is a likelihood that the scale and character of operations within the Airport Zone is similar to that of the Industrial Zone. Two examples have been discussed below which look at the carpark amenity within this zone. 13. The carpark located outside of the Palmerston North Airport Terminal Building is approximately 1.5ha in size and has parking spaces positioned almost entirely in a north-south orientation within aisles running from east to west (Figure 6). This arrangement demonstrates a character that is typical of large scale carparks which maximise available parking spaces and often result in a low level of visual amenity due to the barren hardscape and lack of visual interest. The eastern perimeter of the carparking area does have a few elements such as trees and planting, however internal planting is scarce (Figure 6 & 7). 14. The airport has recently undertaken signi cant upgrades to the Terminal Building which have had a positive impact on the airport experience, however the exterior carpark has not received the same attention and has been left in its utilaritarian state. The vast expanse of pavement has not been adequately broken up and the addition of interspersed vegetation, which would result from the car parking requirement of one specimen tree per 10 car parks, would greatly improve the overall amenity of the Airport Terminal s exterior. 15 47
Figure 8 Artists Impression of the FreightGate Concept with indicative amenity planting Figure 9 Airport Zone sites available for lease Figure 10 Airport Zone sites available for lease overlain onto FreightGate Concept 16 48
15. The promotion of the FreightGate branding and expansion by the Palmerston North Airport is likely to see the addition of numerous transportation or industrially related operations. This indicates that there is an opportunity to achieve a consistently high level of landscape amenity within the areas designated for the FreightGate development if the appropriate rules, such as those pertaining to Carpark Design, are introduced to the Airport Zone of the District Plan before the construction of these sites occurs. This is considered to be in line with the Vision portrayed for FreightGate (Figure 8) 16. The shape factor and size of those sites already available for lease (Figure 9) is such that the carparks are likely to be either adjacent to or visible from Airport Drive and so the addition of internal specimen trees would in uence the overall level of amenity of the Airport Zone along this key transportation pathway. A comparison can be made between the original concept drawing and the sections now available for lease (Figure 10) which indicates that the implementation of this rst stage of the FreightGate development is largely consistent with the original vision. Palmerston North International Airport will be leasing these sites out to other operations and it is considered appropriate to implement landscape amenity provisions, such as the Carpark Design rules, into the District Plan so that the expected level of landscape amenity is clear to prospective leaseholders within this zone. 17 49
Residential Interface Figure 11 Airport Zone Interface with the Residential Zone Figure 12 Planted Bund used as setback between Residential & Airport Zone Planted Bund Setback Figure 13 Google Earth Aerial of Planted Bund displayed in Figure 12 above 18 50
RESIDENTIAL INTERFACE 17. The Airport Zone has a signi cant portion of the southern boundary, approximately 2000m, located either adjacent to or fronting the Residential Zone (Figure 11) and the need to limit potential adverse effects at this interface is highlighted in Rule 20.4.2 Policy 2.1 of the District Plan. Currently, the primary method for addressing the potential adverse effects of the Airport on neighbouring residential areas has been to require a 6m setback for all buildings and activities when located adjacent to a residential boundary. 18. On review of the Airport Zone rules it has become apparent that there is no height restriction on buildings located adjacent to the residential boundary and that the maximum height for buildings within this zone is only restricted by Rule 20.4.10, which is the Airport Protection Surface. 19. The setback rule for buildings and activities adjacent to the residential zone is effective at reducing the liklihood for adverse effects and one of the Airport/ Residential boundaries has implemented a separation strip of 10m with a bund and associated planting (Figures 12 & 13). This is an excellent example of the setback requirement and demonstrates how this rule can be used to provide a barrier between the airport and residential zones. 20. There are also other areas of residential which are adjacent to the airport zone which do not have a planted bund located along their boundary. In these situations it is considered that the 6m building and activity setback is suf cient for maintaining the residential amenity level. The performance condition relating to seperation distances should be retained within the Airport Zone. 21. The building envelope rules for the Outer and Local Business Zones have been adjusted as part of PC1 and PC5 of the Sectional District Plan Review and it has also been my recommendation that these adjustments apply to the Industrial Zone. Similarly, it is also appropriate for the additional height restrictions of the residential recession planes to be applied to the Airport Zone at the residential interface. 19 51
Figure 14 Scale of an Existing Building within the Airport Zone which could potentially be located at only a 6m setbcak from the Residential Zone under the current provisions. 20 52
22. This will provide an increased level of protection to the residential properties located on the periphery of the Airport Zone and limit the potential for adverse visual effects resulting from neighbouring buildings as it will maintain a residential scale at the interface. This is of particular importance because there is potential for adverse shadowing effects on the residential properties should large buildings (Figure 14) locate themselves at the 6m required setback and therefore tower over the back fence line of a residential property. 23. The risk of adverse shadowing effects on residential properties is escalated due to the geographic position of the Residential Zone areas being located south of the Airport Zone (the path of the sun only cast shadows to the east, west and south of the building or feature). This reinforces the recommendation to apply a residential recession plane to the Airport Zone where it is adjacent to the Residential Zone. 21 53
Figure 15 Courier Post operation located on the corner of Airport Drive and McGregor Street Figure 16 Existing Street trees along John F Kennedy Drive could potentially extend along Airport Drive Figure 17 A Comprehensive Development Plan could look into the integration of Mahanga Kakariki Reserve which borders the Airport Zone 22 54
24. The landscaping frontage requirements that exist for the Airport Zone are found within the Carpark Landscape Design R20.3.7.5 section of the District Plan. These rules which were assessed as part of the PC1 and PC5 Sectional District Plan Review reviews are also considered appropriate for inclusion in the Airport Zone. The situation which arose in the PC9 Industrial Zone Review that looked at reducing the extent of frontage requirements for selected industrial sites is not relevant in the Airport Zone and the full Provisions of R20.3.7.5 should apply. This is a re ection of the important role that the Airport plays as a gateway to the city and therefore a high standard of visual amenity and presentation is required. The existing environment and future environment have been considered below. 25. Courier Post is an example of an existing operation located in the Airport Zone (Figure 15). It is located on the corner of Airport Drive and McGregor Street and demonstrates many of the characteristics of buildings found within the Industrial Zone. The planting located on the corner of the site is considered to be bene cial, however the visual amenity of this site would be improved if additional planting was introduced along the street frontage as dispersed specimen trees would break up the extent of hard landscaping and soften the exterior of the site. This would be achieved within new developments in the Airport Zone through the street frontage provisions of R20.3.7.5. 26. Development within the Airport Zone will continue to expand, particularly along Airport Drive, and it is important to implement a high standard of landscape and visual amenity within this zone. This is primarily achieved through the carpark design, street frontage and building setback provisions, however it is considered important to also strategically plan for the desired character which is to be exhibited within this zone as it is an essential part of the cities operation. 27. While the implementation of a Comprehensive Development Plan for the Airport Zone is outside of the District Plans control, it is recommended that Council promote this approach to future planning in a similar way that Campus Development Plans are encouraged within the Institutional Zone. This would look at creating and reinforcing a distinct character for the airport area so that this prominent gateway can both make and leave a good impression of Palmerston North City. Features of a Comprehensive Development Plan for the Airport Zone could include the extension of street trees along Airport Drive similar to what has taken place along John F Kennedy Drive (Figure 16) and also plan for the effective integration of Mahanga Kakariki Reserve (Figure 17) into the future Airport development and development of other open spaces as an integral part of the overall layout. An Airport Park should be considered as part of the FreightGate concept, thereby portraying an integrated approach to this public aspect of the airport site with an integrated freight/business park that includes pedestrian linkages, open space and a high degree of visual amenity. 23 55
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RECOMMENDATIONS 28. Assessment of the Airport Zone has identi ed that many of the activities that can occur here are similar in character in scale and character to those which can occur in the Industrial Zone. There is also a similarity between the Airport/ Industrial Zones and the Business Zones assessed at as part of PC1. For this reason, and because of their location within such a prominent transportation gateway, a high level of visual amenity for the surrounding land use within the Airport Zone should be required. 29. It is therefore recommended that the Carpark Design requirements which control internal planting and street frontage as proposed under PC1 (Figure 18), and which were largely recommended for inclusion in the Industrial Zone Review, be transferred over to the Airport Zone. It is also recommended that buildings in the Airport Zone adjacent to the Residential Zone should comply with the Residential Recession Plane requirements (Figure 18), which is consistent with the recommendation made for the PC9 Industrial Zone Review. Finally it is recommended that a Comprehensive Development Plan be prepared or updated that makes provision for these recommendations and provides for a high amenity public area associated with the airport. - Including R20.3.7.6 - Also Introduce: - - - Figure 18 Table of proposed provisions for the Airport Zone 25 57
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CONCLUSION 30. This Operative District Plan Airport Zone provisions for landscape and visual amenity have been considered in relation to Carpark Design, Residential Interface, and Streetscape. The majority of these provisions are appropriate and should be maintained as they result in high quality landscape outcomes. It is considered appropriate from a landscape perspective to make one modi cation to the Rules within the Airport Zone and require buildings located adjacent to the Residential Zone to comply with the Residential Recession Plane in the same way the Industrial Zone is required to do so. Hudson Associates 27 59