Dear Mr Guppy, Upper Hutt City Council,

I'd appreciate if you could please provide an update as to what is planned for the vacant Housing New Zealand land located on Merton/Rimutaka/Ruahine Street, Upper Hutt formerly occupied by Housing New Zealand Flats and additionally the block of flats located at 37-43 Ruahine Street.

The land has been vacant for some time now and it would be good to see this space utilised (be it by a private or public developer or both). Personally I would not however like to see high density housing in this position - it would be ideal for stand alone single households.

Could you please confirm whether the zoning for these sites would allow the rebuilding of attached multi-units, or would they be required to be stand-alone single household units. Could you confirm that as the existing buildings have been demolished there are no existing use rights.

Could you please provide details of any pre-application meetings, building or resource consents relating to these sites since the time of their demolition, or pre-application meetings, building or resource consents prior to their demolition relating to their use (other then as vacant land) post demolition.

Could you please provide electronically copies of any documents, emails, correspondence, meeting records or minutes, plans, or other documents which are pertinent to the intended future use of these particular properties, or recording discussions relating to these sites which date from the time of the previous building's demolition to now.

Yours faithfully,

Fraser

Dear Karen Patterson,

Thank-you very much for your timely response.

As a follow-up:
1. Given the answer to Q4. Could the Council please have a Building Officer attend 37-43 Ruahine St to ascertain that the building work currently underway at this site is exempt under Schedule 1 of the Building Act and does not require Building Consent, and advise the outcome.

2. Could you please bring the issue of these vacant sites to the attention of the Mayor & Councillors and advise them that the local community would like to see these sites utilised, and that there is a concern that the development which does occur here is of a suitable density/type. Personally, and from talking to neighbours, it is felt development similar to the stand alone houses at Pomare (either mixed public/private or all private) would be a positive result and boost for the area.

It would be good if they could organise to meet with Housing New Zealand representatives to try and guage their plans, encourage action sooner rather then later, and pass on the communities hopes for the area. Perhaps they could Act as a conduit to find a local partner for this work.

Yours sincerely,

Fraser

Hi Karen,

Just wondering if you've heard anything back regards how the building team got on with investigating the building work occurring without building consent?

Yours sincerely,

Fraser

Hi Karen,

Just a quick follow-up regards this again.

Thanks,

Fraser