Resource Consent FAQs

Commercial and industrial activities can operate in all zones provided the proposal can comply with the applicable performance standards of the relevant zone.

Particular consideration will need to be given to requirements for:

• Gross Floor area
• Building coverage/impermeable surfaces
• Additional front setbacks (Rural and Maori Purpose Zones)
• Noise generation
• Signage
• Traffic intensity
• Vehicle access
• Parking
• Loading

If any relevant performance standards of the corresponding zone cannot be met, resource consent is required for both the breached standards and the commercial and Industrial buildings standard.

This will depend on the zoning of the property. The required setbacks are given below:

Setback requirements will also depend on the type of site. The site types are given below:

Figure 1 - Yards

Note: Paper roads, both formed and unformed are considered public roads. Adjoining boundaries are considered ‘Front’ boundaries.

Other setbacks that may apply

The following setbacks also apply to buildings in all zones;

• 30m from the Coastal Marine Area, lake or river.
• 30m from a railway line within 300m of a rail/road intersection
• 300m from the intersection of a state highway and local road

For sites within the Mangawhai Harbour Overlay and the Kai Iwi Lakes Overlay a 6m setback is required from the banks of any river with an average width of 1-3m.

For commercial and industrial activities on Rural and Maori Purpose zoned sites a front yard setback of 20m is required.

There are exemptions for accessory buildings to be have a nil setback from any side or rear yard in the Residential Zone, where:

• Vehicle access is retained to the rear of the site; and
• It is located at least 3m from any habitable room on an adjoining site; and
• It does not exceed 10m in length or 25% of the length of the side or rear yard, whichever is less

The Kaipara District Plan is an effects based plan. As such, there are no tables identifying which particular activities are permitted for each zone. Instead, the Kaipara District Council permit activities based on the extent of their potential effects.

To determine if your proposed development or activity will be permitted under the District Plan you will need to assess your activity against the relevant performance standards listed in each chapter of the District Plan which correspond to the property’s zone.

If there are any performance standards your proposed development / activity cannot comply with, resource consent will be required for the development / activity to occur.

There are two key controls that determine how much of your site can be covered by buildings and other coverings:

Building coverage

The portion of the site which is covered by buildings and includes all accessory buildings, balconies, and parts of the site covered by eaves, overhangs or cantilevered structures greater than 1.2m in height.

Impermeable surface Coverage

The portion of the site which does not allow natural percolation of water into the ground and includes roofs, solid or non-slotted decks, any surface used for manoeuvring, access, loading of motor vehicles or parking and any other paved areas.

Maximum coverages are detailed in the District Plan but are summarised below:

Up to 2m. Fences higher than 2m will require both building consent and resource consent.

More can be found at Fencing in Kaipara

Most consents have a lapse period of 5 years. If the consent has not been given effect to within the time period, the consent will lapse.

Lapsed consents terminate the permission granted to undertake a development or activity. Once a consent is lapsed there is no means of re-activating this consent.

If the consented activity is still proposed, a new application for consent would be required.

A lapsed consent has no status in the decision-making process for new consent applications on the same site or for a similar proposal.

Can you extend the lapse period of a consent?

You can apply to Council to extend the time period after which the resource consent lapses. When making a decision on a time extension application, the council must consider the following matters

• What, if any, progress or effort has been, and continues to be, made towards completing the consent; and
• Whether the applicant has sought written approval from persons who may be affected by the granting of the time extension; and
• The effect of the time extension on the District Plan provisions. 

A subdivision consent will not lapse if a survey plan has been submitted to Council under section 223 prior to 5 years, but will lapse if the survey plan is then not deposited within 3 years following the section 223 date in accordance with section 224.

In the District Plan, there are zones for certain development activities. Examples are rural, commercial, or residential zones. There can also be overlays over these zone.

Overlays generally apply tighter controls over an area than the underlying zone does. You can find overlays for your property on the Operative Kaipara District Plan.

For example, 200m3 of excavation and fill in the residential zone is a permitted activity; however, if the site is located within an Overlay area, the permitted volume of excavation and fill is 100m3.  Any additional requirements for Overlay Areas are set out within each applicable Performance Standard within the relevant Zone Chapter.  For example, the Performance Standard for ‘Excavation and Fill’ can be found under Rule 13.10.1a in Chapter 13 – Residential.    

The permitted height of a building or structure in relation to the location of the boundary is prescribed by the recession plane demonstrated in Figure 3. No part of any building should exceed a height of 3m plus the shortest horizontal distance between that part of the building and any site boundary

Figure 3 – Height in Relation to Boundary / Recession Plane diagram

The maximum height of a building in relation to the boundary depends on the zoning of the property. This is detailed in the District Plan and summarised below:

The maximum height of a building / structure depends on the zoning of the property. Maximum heights are detailed in the District Plan but are summarised below:

The Maximum height is measured vertically above natural ground level at any point on the site, as shown in Figure 2 below.

Figure 2 - Building Height (rolling height method)

An accessory building is any building that is secondary to the main function or permitted use of the site.

Accessory buildings can include such buildings as;

• Detached garages
• Carports
• Garden or small storage sheds
• Sleep outs
• Greenhouses
• Pergolas

Accessory buildings are required to comply with the relevant zone’s setback standards except in the Residential Zone.

There are exemptions for accessory buildings to have a nil setback from any side or rear yard in the Residential Zone, where:

a)    Vehicle access is retained to the rear of the site; and

b)    It is located at least 3m from any habitable room on an adjoining site; and

c)    It does not exceed 10m in length or 25% of the length of the side or rear yard, whichever is less.

A water tank is defined as an accessory building under the District Plan and therefore setback rules requirements for each zone are applicable.  The only exemption is for the properties within the Residential Zone.

The required setbacks for each zone are as follows:

Setback requirements will also depend on the type of site.  The site types are as follows:

Water tanks in the residential zone

In the residential zone water tanks are considered to be accessory buildings and may be located within a side or rear yard provided they do not exceed the height in relation to boundary controls of the District Plan i.e. a water tank positioned right up to the boundary of a residential site must not exceed 3 metres in height.

Water tanks in the rural zone

There is no accessory building exemption for side and rear setbacks in the rural zone.  Therefore water tanks need to be located clear of all yards unless buried.  However, to be consistent with previous practice, an RMA S87BB minor breach exemption is issued to allow water tanks up to 1.2 metres in height to be located in the side and rear year setbacks in the rural zone.

Water tanks may be positioned close to another building on the site such as a dwelling or garage, however, a maintenance gap must be provided between the tank and the building (see Figure 4). The two structures must not be abutted against each other.

Figure 4 – Required Maintenance gap between water tank and dwelling

A ‘dwelling’ is defined in the Kaipara District Plan as:
“Any self-contained residence of one or more persons as a single household which in each case contains one kitchen, and includes any dwelling house, flat, home unit or townhouse or papakainga housing on ancestral land, but does not include a sleep out.”

Each zone has rules about how many dwellings can be allowed on different size properties without resource consent and what we will consider when assessing any application if resource consent is required.

Read more

The Kaipara District Spatial Plan – Ngā Wawata 2050 was adopted in December 2020 and provides direction for growth across the Kaipara District over a 30-year planning horizon. The Spatial Plan identifies a strategy for longer term growth in the district, including identifying new areas of development and opportunities for greater density.

However, it does not have any statutory weight in the resource consent process.

Read more to see how it is used.

‘Chapter 24 – Definitions’ of the District Plan provides a definition of ‘EEB’ which categorises three types of ‘feature’:

• Existing indigenous habitats: this includes stands of established indigenous vegetation or predominantly indigenous vegetation. This may include habitats identified by Department of Conservation’s Protected Natural Areas programme, or areas evaluated by a suitably qualified ecologist to confirm the composition of flora and fauna with consideration to Appendix 25G of the District Plan;
• Wetlands of ecological value: this includes wetlands identified by Department of Conservation’s Protected Natural Areas programme, or where ecological value is unknown, it has been evaluated by a suitably qualified ecologist to demonstrate ecological value, with consideration to Appendix 25G of the District Plan. Wetland delineation, in accordance with the New Zealand wetland delineation guidelines, may be required where the extent of the wetland is ambiguous (e.g. modified wetlands).
• Newly planted or enhanced areas of indigenous re-vegetation: this includes areas which, in the opinion of a suitably qualified ecologist, strengthen to existing ecological corridors, expand other natural areas or are identified through Council’s Reserves and Open Space Strategy, with consideration to Appendix 25G of the District Plan.

Read more to see how we assess these applications and how you can put forward your best application.