Dunedin's new district plan has been delayed for up to a year.
The Dunedin City Council planning and environment committee yesterday approved an extension to September 26 next year.
The second generation plan, or 2GP, sets the rules that affect every property owner in Dunedin. It is developed to manage the natural and physical resources of the city, and is referred to when resource consents are applied for.
The plan was in a final deliberation stage after the council had spent five years developing it.
But a report to yesterday's committee said an extension was needed ''to ensure the decision on the 2GP is robust, and to avoid the need for further extensions''.
It said further public hearings were scheduled for November and there were legislative changes and a new national policy statement on urban development capacity to deal with.
The Resource Management Act required a decision to be made two years after the proposed plan was publicly notified - the 2GP was notified in September 2015 - and local authorities were allowed to extend that period.
Acting city development manager Paul Freeland told the committee it was not uncommon for such large reviews to go longer than the statutory period.
The Queenstown District Council had extended its time frame.
Cr Lee Vandervis suggested it would cost $700,000 and staff costs for the process to go for another year, based on the cost of the past financial year.
Mr Freeland said that was not the case. Twenty-five of 27 hearings had been completed, the panel was keen to finish, and he anticipated the process would be finished by March. The cost might be 20% of what Cr Vandervis suggested.
''The reason we asked for a 12-month extension was if for any reason it did go beyond March, we didn't want to have to come back to ask for what is largely a procedural matter.''
Mr Freeland said after the meeting the project had taken longer than was first anticipated.
''We have progressively had to push out the finish date.''
Contingency plans for possibilities like staff illnesses were still needed.
Hearings were tentatively scheduled for November, and a wrap-up hearing for late November or early December.
Once the plan was finished, there was an appeal period to go, the timing of which depended on appeals and when the Environment Court could deal with them.
