New small businesses in Central Otago will not have to make business contributions if their establishments create little or no demand on infrastructure.
The Central Otago District Council has adopted a principle whereby it will consider the strain a new business would place on capital services such as water and wastewater to determine whether that business should make a development contribution.
Submissions by developers, businessmen and farmers on the council's draft annual plan had said the contributions were a disincentive to new business.
Council development engineer Peter Morton said sometimes it was hard to determine how real the demand on services would be.
"Infrastructure demand from the business may not be a true additional demand but more a redistribution of demand already allowed for in the corresponding residential areas."
He said the contribution remissions would be made on a case-by-case basis, but a small business was considered to be the size of a house or smaller.
The contribution remission will also apply to small non-residential developments that are of a service nature rather than commercial businesses, but not to land subdivisions.
