Development Contributions Assessment Overview

A typical development project will be assessed for Activities and Parks Reserves as follows:

• Land use consent: the council will provide an assessment of development contributions. Depending on the type of land use, this assessment may or may not generate an invoice requiring immediate payment on the granting of the land use consent
• Subdivision consent: the council will provide an assessment of development contributions payable on the consent. This assessment will generate an invoice, assuming calculated HUEs* exceed zero
• Building consent: the council will provide an assessment of development contributions payable on the consent. This assessment will generate an invoice, assuming calculated HUEs* exceed zero
• Service connection: the council will provide an assessment of development contributions payable on the consent. This assessment will generate an invoice, assuming calculated HUEs* exceed zero

* A HUE is a building or part of a building intended to be used as an independent residence or a self contained unit that includes a kitchen and bathroom facilities of any nature, including houses, flats, townhouses, apartments, minor residential units and studios.  A unit of demand representing one average dwelling. Applied to residential and non residential.

The timing of when you lodge your consent will determine how you are assessed for development contributions.  All assessments are linked to consent.   The legislation provides you with the opportunity to stage your subdivision or building consents. (Please note: this does not apply to land use consents) If staged, these will be assessed at each stage of the consent.

How are development contributions assessed?

The council shall carry out the following steps using information made available from the applicant and its own records and analysis.  We may contact you for further information to assist our processes:

• Step One - assess whether the application relates to a "development" as defined in the LGA 2002 and whether development contributions are required
• Step Two - identify the units of demand 
• Step Three - identify credits (including historic credits* and actual credits^ relating to contributions paid) 
• Step Four - calculate HUEs 
• Step Five - identify any remissions, reductions or other discounts 
• Step Six - combine above to calculate development contributions charge by multiplying respective Activity units of demand (HUE) by Development Contributions Schedule of Charges for the Activity

* Historic credits may be awarded in situations where the previous structures on the site, or the uses of the site, imply that the current development is not contributing to growth to the extent that the assessed number of units or demand implies. It is important for the applicant to provide an independently verifiable assessment of historic credits where asked to do so by the council.

^ Where development contributions or financial contributions for a particular development on a property have previously been assessed and paid, credit based on the number of household units or HUEs actually paid for shall be given on an activity by activity basis (no credit is given for household units or HUEs previously assessed but not actually paid for). For the calculation of actual credits there is no historical time limit and all previous payments will be taken into account.