The council’s submission on the draft national policy statement for exposure to native biodiversity was retroactively endorsed at a council meeting on Wednesday, with councilors voicing concerns.
Senior planner Nicola Kirby said that passing the NPS in its current form would force changes to the Hurunui district plan.
“District plans should not conflict with any document at the national level, so there will be some significant changes and we are about to work out what we may need to change.”
At the top of the list of concerns was the mapping of Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) on private land, which has proven to be an “emotional topic” since the municipality first tried to include it in the Neighborhood Plan in the 1990s.
Mayor Marie Black said she had requested that Hurunui not be included in the Canterbury Mayoral Forum entry because her community had “a different view”.
Councilors voted to name an undisclosed section of road between Hilton Drive and Rosewood Drive in Amberley as Hilton Drive, in an effort to cause the least amount of confusion.
It meant there would now be a continuous loop road connecting Carters Road and Amberley Beach Road with three names.
Pound Rd runs off Carters Rd and then becomes Hilton Drive.
A new stretch of road being developed as part of the Oakfields subdivision will continue from Hilton Drive and connect to Rosewood Drive.
Rosewood Drive was confirmed as a road name in June, when councilors overturned an earlier decision to name the entire stretch of road from Pound Road and the connection to Amberley Beach Road as Hilton Drive.
A right of way of Purchas Road at Glasnevin, south of Waipara, has been called Limeloader Lane.
The Limeloader name recognized the lime loader that operated on Purchas Road for a number of years until the 1960s.
Eleven buildings used priority.
Councilors agreed to waive the full consent fees totaling $13,452.39 for the rebuilding of Glenmark Church.
Council staff had already granted a $2,500 refund, the maximum allowed by council policy, and had waived the Building Research
Association of New Zealand and the Department of Business, Innovation and Employment charges.
Black said the policy allowed for discretion beyond the $2,500 cap for projects that benefited the community.
She acknowledged the community’s efforts to raise more than $600,000.
Glenmark Church in Waipara was badly damaged in the September 2010 Canterbury earthquake.
-By David Hill
Local Democracy Reporter
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