The draft Auckland Unitary Plan

Detailed factsheet on proposed residential controls

The draft plan proposes a series of controls on things such as height, density, site coverage and setbacks from boundaries. This is to ensure that new development strengthens the character of residential areas and limits the impact on neighbouring properties, while at the same time providing the greater supply and choice of homes that Auckland needs. Generally, the greater the density of housing, the greater the number of considerations that have to be taken into account. These include:
Control Terraced Housing & Apartment Buildings Zone Generally 14.5m (4 storeys); 18m (5 storeys) adjacent to some Town Centres; 21.5m (6 storeys) adjacent to Metropolitan Centres and some Town Centres Mixed Housing Zone 8m Single House Zone 8m Rural & Coastal Settlement Zone 8m Large Lot Residential Zone 8m

Building height

Maximum density Density determined by design review process

Up to 4 dwellings 1:300m2 5+ dwellings: Density determined by design review process (min. site size 1200m2) 3-4 dwellings: Min. frontage/site width: 15m 5+ dwellings: Min. frontage/site width 20m 300m2 2.5m n/a

One dwelling per site

One dwelling per site

One dwelling per site

Minimum frontage/site width

Min. frontage/site width: 25m up to 4 storeys 30m greater than 4 storeys

n/a

Minimum site size 1200m2 with min. frontage of 20m for subdivision Front yard Side and rear yards Riparian yard Lake yard Minimum landscaped (permeable) area 2.5m n/a

500m2 5m n/a

4000m2 5m n/a

4000m2 10m 10m

All zones 10m from edge of stream (permanent and intermittent) All zones - 30m 30% 40% 40% n/a

AUCKLAND

Summary of key controls Height in relation to boundary

Terraced Housing & Apartment Buildings Zone See detailed setback controls below

Mixed Housing Zone

Single House Zone

Rural & Coastal Settlement Zone

Large Lot Residential Zone n/a

2.5m vertically above side and rear boundaries then a recession plane of: 35 degrees from southern boundary 45 degrees from east and west boundaries 55 degrees from northern boundary See Diagram 1 below. Maximum length of a wall on the boundary: 10m or 25% of the length of the same boundary, whichever is less. (Note: common walls permitted between two buildings) 50% 60% 35% 60% 20% or 200m2 whichever is less 10%

40% Maximum building coverage Maximum impervious (hard surface) area Minimum landscaped (permeable) area Privacy 70%

10% or 400m2 whichever is less 10%

30%

40%

40%

n/a

Design review process

If the habitable room windows of a dwelling are less than 6m away and have direct views of the habitable room windows of other dwellings within the same or adjacent sites, they must: be offset a minimum of 1m horizontally or vertically from the edge of one window to the edge of the other; or have sill heights of 1.6m above floor level; or have fixed obscure glazing in any part of the window below 1.6m above floor level; or be on the ground floor level and separated by a fence of 1.6m minimum height. Min. 40m2, able to Min. 80m2, able to contain a 4.5m x 4.5m contain a 4.5m x square on a flat area directly accessible to 4.5m square on a principal living room flat area directly accessible to principal living room

n/a

Outdoor living space (OLS): (OLS): Principal living room at ground floor

Must be directly accessible to principal living room, able to contain a 4.5m x 4.5m square on a flat area directly accessible to principal living room

n/a

OLS Principal living room above ground floor

Balcony or roof Part of required OLS must include balcony or roof terrace terrace of 8m2 with 8m2 and min. dimension of 2.4m min. dimension of direct access from principal living room 2.4m For Mixed Housing zone where entire OLS above ground level: 10m2 and min dimension of 2.4m Maximum height 1.8m area between 1.2m and 1.8m must be at least 75% transparent Take up no more than 50% of the width of front faade of the n/a building

n/a

Fences Garages

Take up no more than 50% of the width of the front faade of the building

Further controls for the Terraced Housing and Apartment Buildings and Mixed Housing zones:
Control Building setbacks at upper levels Terraced Housing and Apartment Buildings Zone Where sites in the Terrace Housing and Apartment Buildings zone adjoin the Single House or Mixed Housing zone, buildings must be set back at least 3m from side and rear boundaries for storeys one and two and 5m for storeys three and four. Where sites in the Terrace Housing and Apartment Buildings zone adjoin another site in the same zone or any zone other than the Single House or Mixed Housing zones, buildings must be set back as follows: Where the building is between one and four storeys, the building must be set back at least 3m from side or rear boundaries. Where the building is more than four storeys, the building must be set back at least 5m for storeys one to four from side or rear boundaries. The building must be set back 7m from side or rear boundaries for storeys five and six. Principal living rooms must have an outlook of at least 15m, measured perpendicular to the exterior face of the building. For bedrooms the outlook space must be at least 6m, measured perpendicular to the exterior face of the building. n/a Mixed Housing Zone n/a

Outlooks

n/a

Max. building length

Where three or more attached dwellings are orientated down the length of a side boundary, after the third dwelling, buildings must not exceed a maximum height of 5m for a minimum length of 3m

Minimum dwelling size Daylight to dwellings Minimum room dimensions Servicing and waste

30m2 (plus see the minimum outdoor living space requirements above) Glazing to principal living room: Min. 40% of floor area of the living room Glazing to bedrooms: Min. 20% of floor area of the bedroom Principal living room and principal bedroom: Min dimension 3m excluding cupboard/ storage space. Must provide communal storage space for 10 or more dwellings. Aggregate of: Studio and 1 bedroom (0.3m2), 2 bedroom (0.5m2), 3 bedroom (0.7m2), 4 or more bedrooms (1m2) If > 20 dwellings in a building: Studio and 1 bedroom dwellings must not exceed 70% of the total number of dwellings Ground floor: 4m for depth of 10m where adjoining street or public open space Above ground floor: 2.7m where floors will accommodate dwellings n/a

Dwelling mix Floor to ceiling height

Diagram 1: Height in relation to boundary control in the Single House, Mixed Housing and Rural and Coastal Settlement Zones