However, the Dunedin City Council yesterday rejected his idea.
Terramark resource management planner Darryl Sycamore used yesterday’s public forum to call on the council to end its "overly conservative" approach towards potential lead contamination in soil surrounding the city’s older housing stock.
To redevelop older properties where lead paint has possibly been used, a new soil-testing process is required, and properties can be permanently added to the Hazardous Activities and Industries List (Hail) register.
Developers have railed against the requirement, saying the council’s "misinterpretation" of national standards and its resulting policy was adding $15,000 to $30,000 to the cost of every new home in Dunedin that required resource consent.
Speaking on behalf of Terramark, engineering, surveying and planning firm Patersons Dunedin, TL Survey Services, and the Otago Property Investors Association, Mr Sycamore told councillors he had approached 50 councils and heard from 36 — and the Dunedin City Council was an outlier in this case.
"There is no doubt the DCC is applying the NESCS [National Environmental Standard for Assessing and Managing Contaminants in Soil to Protect Human Health] in a different way to other councils.
"The implications of a residential property being identified as contaminated land cannot be overstated.
"The approach of council is contrary to the advice of [Ministry for the Environment] who wrote the NESCS, and inconsistent with Health NZ guidance.
"We respectfully ask that councillors direct city planning to cease this overly conservative approach and follow the approach of other councils throughout the country.
"We also request that city planning commission an independent report on the issue, using a party agreed to by both parties."
The council was often told the cost to build was too high in Dunedin, "and that the council is perceived as anti-development". Its rules in this instance was evidence of that.
An independent review was required to determine if Dunedin developers and home buyers were indeed "at a disadvantage compared to every other district", Mr Sycamore said.
"I think that's the only credible way through."
A council spokesman yesterday said the council disagreed with Mr Sycamore’s assessments.
"We have already sought independent professional advice and are not planning to change our approach or commission a further independent review," the spokesman said.
Only a small number of properties which had pre-1945 painted wooden or roughcast houses were covered by the new requirements and the council said the impact of its interpretation of the national standards was "minor".
"We also reject any suggestion the DCC is anti-development."
He said the council’s approach "responds to the regulations and the findings of an independent review by Stantec".
The spokesman noted the Otago Daily Times last year reported Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora Southern medical officer of health Dr John Eastwood applauded the council’s approach to the issue.
