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Your Neighbourhood

City Voice — 2012-04-19 19:50:22 +1200

The character of your neighbourhood will remain much as it is now, we've identified areas where more apartments and townhouses will be built, and we're planning to make it harder for offices to set up business in residential areas.

What do you think about this?
Read more and share your views.

High Voltage Electricity Lines

City Voice — 2012-04-19 19:48:12 +1200

About 29km of high voltage lines fall within Hamilton City’s eastern boundary passing through the suburbs of Silverdale, Ruakura, Fairview Downs and Rototuna.

High voltage power lines have a special status in law, and new rules around development near or under the lines has been introduced.

What do you think about this?
Read more and share your views.

Ruakura Structure Plan

City Voice — 2012-04-19 19:46:45 +1200

The plan considers how 800ha at Ruakura should be developed in the future.

What do you think about this?
Read more and share your views.

Business & Central City

City Voice — 2012-04-19 19:46:15 +1200

Our vision is for Hamilton is to have a thriving, people-focused Central City that is attractive for businesses, residents and visitors. We want bustling, pedestrian-friendly streets, vibrant public spaces and high quality urban design with mixed developments allowing people to live close to their work.

What do you think about this?
Read more and share your views.

Natural Hazards - Floods & Erosion

City Voice — 2012-04-19 16:11:32 +1200

Council’s Mayor and Councillors are apologising to residents for their recent flood risk mailout, and have put the current flood risk related consultation on hold while more detailed property work is undertaken. At this time no flood risk assessment work will go on any LIMs.

Flood modelling work has given a better understanding of areas of the city susceptible to flooding in a significant storm, with high, medium and low categories of risk identified. As a result restrictions will apply to development in some areas.

Areas subject to land instability such as gullies, river banks and steep slopes will also be subject to tighter development controls.

What do you think about this?
Read more and share your views.

Key Principles

City Voice — 2012-04-19 16:06:49 +1200

Two key principles with the Draft District Plan are:

Towards a more liveable city - high quality urban design
Growing smarter, getting better - managing growth efficiently and effectively

What do you think about this?
Read more and share your views.

Fast Forward - Hamilton Draft District Plan

admin — 2012-04-19 09:03:22 +1200

Hamilton’s blueprint for development, its Draft District Plan, is under review and Hamilton City Council is seeking feedback in some key areas.

Find out more about the Plan, and share your views on where we've got to so far. Share your views by 1 June.

Draft development and financial contributions policy

City Voice — 2012-03-15 18:58:31 +1300

Through Development Contributions (DCs) developers pay a portion of Council’s growth-related costs for city infrastructure like roads, water and wastewater pipes, parks, community infrastructure, etc. This means that these costs do not need to be met by existing ratepayers.

The DC Policy determines the extent to which growth-related costs are allocated to DCs and the relative amounts paid by different types of developments towards these costs.

The proposed changes aim to improve the equity and fairness of the Policy, while minimising the risks to Council (and the ratepayer) of inadequate amounts of DC revenue being received.

Submissions and hearings

Submissions to the draft Development and Financial Contributions Policy have now closed. Hearings will be held from 14 May 2012.

Documents

Dealing with debt

City Voice — 2012-03-14 18:11:41 +1300

Banks generally let councils borrow up to $2.50 for every dollar they collect in rates, user charges and other income streams.

Next year the Council will be close to this borrowing threshold, meaning there's virtually nothing left in case of emergency.

We are proposing to limit debt to about $440 million for the next 10 years. By then we'll have Council borrowing down to $1.80 for every dollar collected. We'll do this by:

Cutting some services
Increasing some user charges
Selling some assets to reduce the debt balance

We will still look after our existing assets and facilities, but will spend a lot less on new assets.

Further details of proposals can be found in:

A vision for the city

City Voice — 2012-03-14 18:00:07 +1300

Hamilton is a bright and innovative city but we want to make it better.

Our vision incorporates our goals and aspirations for Hamilton - a city we believe should offer the best economically, environmentally, socially and culturally to everyone who lives here.

Our vision is to be a smart city in every way and in everything we do.

We have a unique, green and natural environment, with the Waikato River running through the heart of our city. We celebrate our diverse community and acknowledge our agricultural heritage.

We want these outcomes for Hamilton:

Prosperous and innovative
Outstanding city leadership
People love living here

Council projects

City Voice — 2012-03-14 17:51:14 +1300

The draft plan still provides for development and some exciting projecs to meet the needs of our growing city. There will be new roads and we're also enhancing some of the city's key assets that make Hamilton such a great place to live. The much-loved Hamilton Gardens will be expanded and improved, we're continuing to fund the creative sector and Seddon Park facilities are being upgraded.

Volume 1 of the 10-Year Plan includes a full list of Council projects. This list includes the funded items that will go ahead in the next 10 years - projects that comprise work to look after our existing assets and new projects.

It also includes the unfunded projects, which the Council endorses but does not have the money to undertake at this time.

Here is a snapshot of some of the projects we're planning for the next 10 years:

Installing air conditioning for Te Rapa sportsdrome
Contributing to an upgrade of Seddon Park's players and officials changing rooms
Extending Hamilton Park Cemetery Burial Lawn
Developing Hamilton Gardens' Fantasy Gardens
Developing Waiwhakareke Natural Heritage Park
Working on cloosed landfills to protect the environment
Introducing waste minimisation initiatives
Developing stormwater assets
Introducing cycling, walking and public transport initiative
Completing the Hamilton Ring Road to Cobham Drive
Developing wastewater assets in growth areas
Building a new water reservoir in Rototuna

A growing city

City Voice — 2012-03-14 17:50:42 +1300

Five years ago the city was booming and economic projections estimated the number of houses would increase from 50,500 to 60,500 by 2022. With the global financial recession, that increase is half that now. We have taken this into account by adjusting the amount budgeted to be spent on and received from growth.

However, we will still need to spend money to finish the infrastructure we've already started building. Work on these projects will continue over the next three years.

These projects include the Te Rapa section of the Waikato Expressway, Hamilton Ring Road in the east and water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure in Rototuna.

Managing the demands for growth, balancing the opportunities for future ratepayers against affordable rates and debt levels for current ratepayers is an enormous challenge for the city.

When we take into account our lower expectations for growth in Hamilton, the Council believes our new financial plan which spends less on growth related projects than before is sustainable and realistic.

Assets - to sell or not to sell

City Voice — 2012-03-14 17:50:31 +1300

The Council owns a wide range of assets from roads and water pipes to parks, library books and buildings. Having decided that getting debt under control is a top priority, we could gain revenue and save operating costs by selling some land and buildings.

Pensioner Housing

We are considering selling our pensioner housing stock. We own 395 pensioner housing units, split among 24 complexes across the city.

No decision will be made on selling these complexes until we have consulted with the community.

We would seek to sell the units to a sympathetic owner, such as a social housing provider or welfare-based agency.

Separate to this decision, three pensioner housing complexes - River Rd, Johnson St and Ascot Reid Ryan - have been approved for sale in 2012/13. These complexes are of lower standard and not suitable for elderly tenants. Existing tenants will be rehoused.

Other Possible Asset Sales

The Council is also considering selling some other buildings and land. For example central city carparks, hotel shares, commercial properties on Brooklyn Rd, Clarence St and Meteor theatres.

A full list of possible asset sales is included in both the Summary of the draft 10-Year Plan and Volume 1 of the full Plan.

Rates - getting the balance right

City Voice — 2012-03-14 17:50:12 +1300

We're proposing a total rates increase of 3.8% each year for the next 10 years to current ratepayers. That will give you certainty, with rises that are lower than seven of the last nine years.

General rates make up about 60% of the Council's income and pay for a huge range of facilities and services in Hamilton.

If the rises were lower than 3.8%, we'd need to make more cuts to Council services to live within our means. But if we didn't make any cuts to Council services your rates rise next year would need to be about 8.3% to keep everything as it is now.

Let us know if you think we've got the balance right.

Hamilton's 2012 draft 10-Year Plan

admin — 2012-02-29 11:54:47 +1300

Submissions to the draft 10-Year Plan have now closed. Hearings take place from 14-18 May 2012.

Find out more about plans for the city for the next 10 years to improve its financial position, hold rates rises, cap debt and get the city back on track.

Open days for Ruakura landowners

City Voice — 2011-12-05 17:16:12 +1300

Ruakura residents and landowners learnt about what is being planned for the Ruakura area at two open days last December.

Hamilton City Council's Fast Forward team held the Draft Ruakura Structure Plan open days on the 5th and 6th of December. The open days were the start of a consultation process for the long term blueprint for land use in Ruakura going forward into the city's Future District Plan.

The area of land which runs from Greenhill Road in the north down to SH26 Morrinsville Road in the south, was transferred from Waikato District to Hamilton City in July 2011. It currently has a mix of rural, residential and farming uses, as well as the Agricultural Research Centre and Innovation Park. Large areas of land are owned by Tainui Group Holdings and Chedworth Properties.

Share your views about the draft Ruakura Structure Plan

City Voice — 2011-12-02 14:55:28 +1300

Have a read of the information shared at the open days on 5 and 6 December 2011 about the draft Ruakura Structure Plan, and tell us what you think. You can find this information in the link above or in the Key Documents section to the right.

Changing Hamilton's Rating System - Your City's Future

admin — 2011-08-25 09:29:12 +1200

At Council's meeting on 16 December 2011 a decision was made to keep the current land value (LV) based rating system with the current variable (differential) rates, rather than move to a capital value (CV) rating system.

Thanks to the 2,763 people and organisations who made written submissions and the 106 who shared their views face to face with Council over the 4 hearing days in November.

The business of Council

admin — 2011-08-10 16:19:40 +1200

Business as usual is not an option and hard decisions need to be made around what Council does and doesn't do.

What things which Council currently does should it stop doing, what should it do more of, and what new areas should it get into?

Your city - the next 10 years

admin — 2011-08-10 16:17:08 +1200

Aspirations and priorities for our city looking ahead.

Tell us the one thing you'd like to see for Hamilton 10 years on.

Who pays for what?

admin — 2011-08-10 16:08:43 +1200

Council is considering changes to charges to use Council owned and operated facilities.

Should Hamilton residents and visitors to the city pay the same, or should non residents and visitors pay more?

Fast Forward - Hamilton District Plan Review

admin — 2011-08-06 10:31:15 +1200

Feedback summaries on Stage 2 of the District Plan review have been completed.

Fast Foward - Hamilton District Plan Review

admin — 2011-08-06 10:29:16 +1200

Should all new houses have minimum design standards?

Hamilton Administrator — 2010-08-30 13:42:37 +1200

Good design doesn't happen by chance. Design guides could help us build the city we want. What do you think?

Where should new businesses start up? Anywhere? Or should it be in exisiting centres?

Hamilton Administrator — 2010-08-27 11:21:57 +1200

To keep our City Heart energised we must keep business in the city. But home offices can be great business start-up locations. What do you think?