Middlemarch increase ‘ridiculous’
The Strath Taieri Community Board chairman says proposed hikes to development contributions in Middlemarch would be "a kick in the guts" for the community.
Barry Williams said he was not aware of the Dunedin City Council proposal to significantly increase development contributions until it appeared in the Otago Daily Times this week.
Developers’ contributions to the council could increase by more than $36,000 for a home in Middlemarch — an increase Mr Williams called "just ridiculous".
"Isn’t that a kick in the guts, really?
"If it gets up that dear, they’re going to pull out and invest elsewhere.
"It’s just ridiculous when you get the council, and not just them, but talking about housing and that, well, it’ll put it up that dear that no-one will be able to do it."
A range of developers told the Otago Daily Times the proposed changes would have unintended flow-on effects.
One developer said while the council’s intention might be to cover infrastructure costs and support community growth, the unintended consequences would be both far-reaching and damaging — especially in the midst of a housing affordability crisis.
It would not simply affect developers’ bottom lines, it would make it harder for first-home buyers to enter the market, the proposal could increase rents, there could be fewer modern, healthy homes in Dunedin’s mix of housing stock, it could hinder smaller operators rather than large ones and it could lead to less investment within the city limits.
When getting a building consent or when connecting to a council water or wastewater network the charges proposed could increase from several thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars in areas such as Seacliff, Karitane, and Waikouaiti.
Middlemarch’s increase is the largest proposed.
Mr Williams said "without blaming anyone" he felt he should have been made aware of the proposal sooner.
The vote to approve the draft development contributions policy for the consultation now under way for the council’s 2025-34 nine-year plan on February 11 was 13-1.
Cr Carmen Houlahan was the lone opposing vote.
Yesterday, she said she believed the proposed increases would "disincentivise development in general", but referred questions specific to Middlemarch to Cr Bill Acklin who is the council representative on the Strath Taieri Community Board.
Cr Acklin could not be reached for comment.
A council spokesman said the proposed increases were detailed in the draft nine-year plan consultation document out now as a part of the council’s consultation.
"They remain proposals only, for the purposes of community consultation, and we welcome submissions from anyone," the spokesman said.
