Just nine property owners have re-applied for resource consent after they were caught up in a bungle by Auckland Council.
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The council admitted a fortnight ago that it had misinterpreted its own rules, and more than 400 consent holders in suburbs like Grey Lynn and Ponsonby – where special character rules apply – would potentially need new consents.
The problem affected consents granted between December 2016 and December last year.
The council said it has now contacted all potentially affected property owners.
It would now be reviewing each consent to work out whether or not the property was affected by the botch-up.
It was prioritising those consents that have also been granted building consent. It was estimated there were about 150 properties in this position.
There were five properties where building work had already started.
So far the council has received nine new resource consent applications and granted two.
It was urging everyone who it had contacted to get in touch to let the council know where they were at in implementing their consents.
The council has said it would cover the cost of the new resource consent applications.
It would also look at compensation or mediation for those more adversely affected.
The problem arose when the Environment Court disagreed with how the council was applying the extra rules that applied in special character areas.
It said those rules should not take precedence over the underlying zoning rules and both should apply when resource consent applications were considered.
Some homeowners may have to make changes to their plans to comply with the new interpretation of the rules, the council said.
The council said it would look at making changes to the Unitary Plan to clarify the rules, but that process could take at least a year.
