Under the present second generation district plan (2GP), Dunedin is expected to have a shortage of 2160 houses in the medium term, when it is required to provide an adequate supply of housing.
The Dunedin City Council initiated variation 2 to the 2GP in 2019 to rezone parts of the city to increase housing capacity and meet this need.
Among the applications for rezoning were a number that were ruled to be out of scope of the variation.
Hearings to consider objections to these rulings had been scheduled for this week, but these were postponed to an unknown later date due to the country re-entering Alert Level 4 on Wednesday.
The agenda for the postponed hearing was released online before the lockdown announcement, and shared details of appeals on out-of-scope proposals.
One of these concerns a tract of land at 503 Purakaunui Rd in Purakaunui, where owners Ben and Raewyn Waller have proposed to rezone two sections from rural to township and settlement zoning.
One was proposed to have 19 lots, and the other at least 14, the total amount to be decided after further surveying of the land.
The proposal also planned to include two separate "ecological enhancement" areas.
The hearing agenda revealed that Sweep Consultancy principal Emma Peters prepared an objection notice to the out-of-scope ruling on behalf of the owners.
The notice said it spoke directly to how the council can discharge its obligations under the policy framework of the 2GP.
Previous legal precedent found for a submission to be within scope of variation 2, it needed to be "on point", and to not create prejudice.
The argument on whether the Purakaunui proposal was on point depended on a change to the 2GP which previously said the city must meet its housing supply needs in the medium term.
It now says it must "at least" meet these needs, which the objection notice said means the council is now free to exceed demand rather than only meeting it.
These changes meant that any submission that sought to rezone land to be residential should be considered in scope.
To measure whether the application created prejudice came down to whether people affected by the proposed changes had been denied the chance to respond to them.
The objection notice said any risk of prejudice could be overcome by allowing other parcels of rural land adjoining the site to be rezoned as township and settlement should their owners desire it, and to notify nearby properties of the proposal and allow them to make submissions on it.
The postponed hearing will weigh the merits of these arguments and rule whether the proposal should be considered in scope for variation 2.
