Stanley Point and Devonport were part of the earliest residential settlement on the North Shore in Auckland, and they’re included within the Special Character Area Residential Overlay (SCAR, or Special Character Overlay) of the Auckland Unitary Plan. In these areas, the individual and collective heritage character values are identified as important in the Unitary Plan. A lot of development requires resource consent and specific consideration and assessment of impacts on these special character values.
Our client had purchased a property in the SCAR overlay in Stanley Point. While it was a lovely house, it didn’t quite fit their family needs, so they proposed additions and alterations to create their dream home- one that functioned for them and the way they live. A new level was proposed to provide for an additional bedroom and bathroom. A new above- ground pool was proposed. Villas typically includes small separate rooms for living, dinning and the kitchen. Our client sought to create a more open plan living space, better suited to modern day living, which seamlessly opened out to a covered veranda.
Being located in the Special Character Overlay, these changes required resource consent.
We worked with our client, listening to what they wanted and needed and making suggestions on potential changes and other specialist inputs needed. Our specialist planners undertook a thorough assessment of the proposal in relation to the special character area values and other relevant provisions of the Auckland Unitary Plan. We complied the resource consent application on our client’s behalf, lodged the application and liaised with the Council directly. Our client wanted the certainty of knowing that the relevant issues were addressed in their resource consent application, and that someone experienced was managing the Council process on their behalf. This freed them up to focus on other aspects of their development.
The application went through the Council resource consent process smoothly, allowing the consenting processes to fit within our clients’ timeframes and giving them certainty to engage contractors. The additions and alterations to the villa are now complete and have been featured in Homestyle Magazine.
