County changes for rural lifestyle

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 237, 29 March 1988, Page 1

County changes for rural lifestyle

People who want to live in the country but not as traditional farmers may find it easier in the Waimarino in future. At the last Waimarino

County Council meeting on Tuesday March 23 proposed phanges to the county's district scheme were approved. Attached to the motion which approved the changes was a recommendation to the

new Waimarino District Council that the changes be made public as soon as possible after April 1. The draft scheme change was presented to council by Jane Dou-

glas-Lane of Payne Sewell Ltd. "These are policies going forward from this council to the District Council and at this late stage they can only be ratified by the District Council," said Deputy

Chairman Gavin Jones. "This is a direction from this council in its dying gasp to the new Waimarino District Council," he said. The main thrust of the changes is to free up the process of applying to council to build on rural land. Included in the scheme change are provisions for the erection of dwellings on low productivity land in a variety of cases. "The council has realised that one of the aims of our rural areas is re-population," said County Chairman Con Heinold at the meeting. "And this is what this change accentuates. That it is making it easier for people t o come and live in the country on smaller acreages." Private dwellings Provisions within the changes allow for private dwellings to b e built in a variety of situations on small rural sections as of right provided the normal water, drainage and sewerage conditions are met. Retiring farmers would be able to subdivide their existing house or a site for a house from the rest of the farm under certain conditions. An existing dwelling could b e subdivided from a farm property where it is surplus to the normal requirements of the farm. Sites may be subdivided for a rural worker to enable him or her to live close to work. Also, a residential site could be subdivided from a property for residential use and "the occupant's sole enjoyment of the rural environment". Conditions covering this use would include that the property would not be made up of class I, n, or III land. This means land that is unlikely to ever bc economic farm land could be subdivided as a residential section. There are also provisions within the proposed changes that would make it easier for Turntop.2

County rural changes

From p. 1 visitor facilities, traveller's accommodation, rural industry (which means any industry which depends on the handling of raw produce of farming or forestry, or the supply of goods and services to farming or forestry), and some cottage industries. The scheme changes would do awJy with rural A and B zones and create a rural A zone with a sub zone called rural Al. The sub zone would cover the majority of farmland in the district which is described as comprising particularly productive soil types. The intention is to encourage greater intensification on these soils, which would mean discouraging forestry. The large number of other land uses would be provided for in the Rural A zone with restrictions placed only on those uses which may have a potential to create nuisance. The draft scheme

change includes the statement: "It is anticipated that these moves away from providing for just the traditional

rural farming activities will encourage development. and improve the district's economic base."