Wellington City Council may need to rewrite parts of its district plan following a court ruling arising from a fence dispute.
The court ruling arose from a lengthy wrangle over a fence in the Wellington suburb of Roseneath. Photo: RNZ / Kate Gudsell
The ruling redefines planning height limits - with some now below ground level - and has major implications for properties in the hilly city.
Last year, an Environment Court ruling about a fence dispute in the suburb of Roseneath meant anyone on a sloping site with a retaining wall on the boundary is more constrained in what they can build there.
Yesterday, in the High Court at Wellington, Justice Karen Clark upheld the ruling.
Justice Clark said she thought it "highly unlikely" property owners would have expected the results it had seen from the council's administration of the district plan.
She said for the council to decide that a fence such as the one built was permissible was "anomalous".
Wellington City Council planning manager Warren Ulusele said the ruling changed how the ground level is measured on such properties.
That in turn affected how they should calculate height limits on sloping sections and neighbouring properties' access to sunlight.
Mr Ulusele said that may seem a dull, technical matter but in fact it meant many existing structures were now non-compliant, and some property height limits were now below ground level.
"Retaining walls are a very common feature of residential properties in a hilly city like Wellington - and many of them are on property boundaries.
"The interpretation adopted by the court is very challenging to apply in a practical way - one of the more extreme examples could be planning height limits that are at, or below, the level of the ground", he said.
Mr Ulusele said it could easily take a year to amend the district plan to fix the problem.
