ASSESSMENT OF LANDCAPE PROVISIONS FOR PROPOSED PLAN CHANGE 5. Local Business Zone PALMERSTON NORTH CITY COUNCIL FINAL

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1 Hawke s Bay Office: PO Box 8823 Havelock North john@hudsonassociates.co.nz Ph M A division of Hudson Group Ltd ASSESSMENT OF LANDCAPE PROVISIONS FOR PROPOSED PLAN CHANGE 5 Local Business Zone PALMERSTON NORTH CITY COUNCIL Prepared by Hudson Associates Landscape Architects FINAL 5 th December 2011

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3 Prepared by Hudson Associates Registered Landscape Architects PO Box 8823 Havelock North Ph For Palmerston North City Council Report prepared for Plan Change 5 of the Sectional District Plan Review 5 th December

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5 Contents INTRODUCTION... 7 EXISTING LANDSCAPE CHARACTER AND CONTEXT... 7 Suburban Centres... 9 Neighbourhood Centres Variations LANDSCAPE ASSESSMENT Residential Interface Car Parking Landscape Design Frontage Landscaping Small & Large Scale Provisions RECOMMENDATIONS CONCLUSION Figures Fig 1. PNCC Local Business Zones 6 Fig 2. Roading Network 6 Fig 3. Terrace End LBZ 8 Fig 4. Hokowhitu Shopping Centre 8 Fig 5. Summer Hill Development 10 Fig 6. Cook Street Shops 10 Fig 7. Rhodes Drive Shops 10 Fig 8. New Castle Street Shops 10 Fig 9. Herbert Avenue Dairy & Takeaways 12 Fig 10. Main Street BP 12 Fig 11. Ashhurst Town Centre 12 Fig 12. The Landscape Supply Yard 14 Fig 13. LBZ & Residential Interface 14 Fig 14. LBZ & Residential Interface With Boundary Planting 14 Fig 15. Terrace End Carpark Example 16 Fig 16. Hokowhitu Carpark Example 16 Fig 17. Herbert Avenue Carpark Example 16 Fig 18. Hokowhitu Un-built frontage 18 Fig 19. Herbert Avenue Building adjacent to Zone Boundary 18 Fig 20. Main Street BP with limited landscape amenity 20 5

6 Fig 1. PNCC Local Business Zones Fig 1. PNCC Local Business Zones Fig 2. Roading Network 6

7 INTRODUCTION 1. This report has been prepared for Palmerston North City Council (PNCC) in order to provide guidance on landscape provisions for the Local Business Zone Plan Change 5 (PC5), as part of a Sectional District Plan Review. Hudson Associates has previously undertaken similar work for PNCC on Proposed Plan Change 1 and this report will essentially address whether or not the provisions recommended for the Inner and Outer Business Zones are applicable to the Local Business Zone (LBZ). 2. The Local Business Zone was briefly considered as Part of PC1, however this only inserted a new Introduction to the zone and PC5 has subsequently been assigned the task of examining the LBZ provisions in detail. There is a concern that the rapid rate of central business zone commercial development currently occurring could extend out into the Local Business Zone. This has the potential to compromise the amenity value of adjacent, particularly residential, zones. To assess the landscape provisions affecting this zone, site surveys were conducted and photographs of all the LBZ areas (Figure 1) were gathered in order to document the individual streetscapes. EXISTING LANDSCAPE CHARACTER AND CONTEXT 3. A commonly used method of assessing the appropriateness of landscape provisions is to establish a contextual baseline. By exposing the existing zone character, the provisions can then be related back to this baseline to determine what action needs to take place in order to maintain or enhance the current situation. The LBZ should be identifiable by its scale, location and primary function, which is to service the day to day needs of the neighbouring community. However, within the LBZ there is a vast range of business activities taking place at varying locations and scales which causes some difficulty in determining a common landscape character. 4. The LBZ encompasses a variety of sites surrounded by the Residential Zone, as well as sites surrounded by the Outer Business Zone, while other parts of the LBZ are adjacent to Fringe Business, Recreational or Industrial Zones. Along with this, LBZ areas are positioned along Local Roads, Collector Roads, Principal Roads and Arterial Routes (Figure 2) such as State Highways, which contributes to the inherent diversity of this zone. 7

8 Fig 3. Terrace End LBZ Fig 4. Hokowhitu Shopping Centre 8

9 5. As a result of this complex variation in landscape context, the LBZ has been divided into three main categories in order to adequately establish the existing zone character. Suburban Centres and Neighbourhood Centres both epitomize the overarching purpose of the LBZ, while the third category can only be considered as a Variation which does not clearly align within these two categories. Suburban Centres 6. These are areas such as Terrace End, Hokowhitu and Summerhill which have become relatively large service destinations providing local residents with a wide range of shopping opportunities. These are effectively thriving clusters of retail shops located in close proximity to residential neighbourhoods at key transportation nodes. 7. The Terrace End LBZ (Figure 3) area demonstrates the important characteristics of a Suburban Centre. It is located along a transportation node with associated bus stops and good pedestrian linkages, along with a mixture of on street parking and off street car parking areas. Terrace End is comprised of one and two storey buildings that typically do not have a set back from the road reserve and that contain a number of small scale businesses within the one footprint. From a landscape perspective, the streetscape is activated by rows of businesses fronting the footpath and the vegetative amenity is provided by the council street trees. The main addition that will improve the amenity of this scene would be the introduction of internal specimen trees to the LBZ car parking areas. 8. The Hokowhitu Shopping Centre (Figure 4) is very similar in character to the Terrace End albeit at a reduced scale. It has only single storey buildings, which may be indicative of its location adjacent to the Residential Zone. This LBZ area is, for the most part, a good example of a well utilised streetscape where the amenity value is added to by occasional vegetation or street trees. The exception to this is the building and car park located east of Albert St, where the addition of planting and trees to the internal car park and inactivate street front would benefit the site s amenity and the streetscape. 9

10 Fig 5. Summer Hill Development Fig 6. Cook Street Shops Fig 7. Rhodes Drive Shops Fig 8. New Castle Street Shops 10

11 9. Summerhill Shopping Centre (Figure 5) is an example of a new and relatively large scale development within the LBZ. This complex is based around the supermarket, while also providing a number of retail and office spaces for small business plus a restaurant/bar. This provides the local community with a range of shops to service their everyday needs, therefore achieving the primary purpose of the LBZ. 10. The Summerhill Development is different to the character created by Terrace End and Hokowhitu as its position along a high volume fast moving carriage way (SH57 70km/h), plus its design as a comprehensive development, influences the setback of buildings from the road reserve boundary. The result of this is that the large car parking areas dominate the scene foreground and promote a character that is consistent with larger format developments found within the Inner and Outer Business Zones. This is not a problem in terms of landscape amenity, as the centre has been designed as a comprehensive development and the landscape design has been incorporated into the layout. Neighbourhood Centres 11. These are usually small clusters of shops within the one building that primarily service only the neighbourhood residents within walking distance of their location. This typically includes activities such as Dairies, Hairdressers, and Takeaways. 12. Cook Street (Figure 6) and Rhodes Drive (Figure 7) Shopping blocks are examples where it is common for small scale Neighbourhood Centres to be built right up to the boundary of the LBZ fronting out to the street. This defines the streetscape edge and does not leave room for any landscape planting treatment, especially if the shops have verandas. There are typically on street parks established within the road reserve and the length of unbuilt frontage generally consists of service lanes or access ways adjacent to the zone boundary, which again leave little space for planting. There are notably less street trees associated with the Neighbourhood Centres, which reduces the amenity value of the streetscape 13. New Castle St has an interesting example of the Neighbourhood block of LBZ shops (Figure 8). The building is located adjacent to three of the four boundaries and a small access way runs down the fourth boundary to the back of the building. The shape of the land parcel dictates that the building fronts the road reserve and this provides a good relationship to the streetscape. There is no need for on-site customer parking as there are a number of parallel car parks provided on the road. The residential properties either side of this site have their own boundary planting which helps to internalise the LBZ effects. 11

12 Fig 9. Herbert Avenue Dairy & Takeaways Fig 10. Main Street BP Fig 11. Ashhurst Town Centre 12

13 14. Also, there is a small park across the road with a row of street trees which also influences the scene. The streetscape is relatively attractive, but the landscape amenity of the LBZ is almost entirely borrowed from the surrounding environment. 15. The Herbert Avenue dairy and takeaway shops (Figure 9) have a very low level of landscape amenity in regards to the streetscape. The building has inactive edges facing onto both of the roads that it is located on and the streetscape is unfortunately dominated by unattractive walls as a consequence. The trees and lawn contribute some amenity value to the site; however the addition of planting along the unbuilt frontage and planting or activation of the blank walls would improve the amenity significantly. Internal planting for the car park would also be a desirable. Variations 16. The Variations within this zone include a number of Service Stations, the commercial centre of the Ashhurst Township and other areas that do not fit easily into either of the other two categories. 17. The BP Service Station (Figure 10) located along Main Street (SH3) adjacent to a car sales yard does not exhibit the typical characteristics of the LBZ. This business may not solely service the needs of neighbouring residents as it also has a potential market of all motorists using the state highway. Service Stations generally have a very geometric appearance which consists of a forecourt, a high flat canopy and the associated ancillary building. There is often a distinct lack of vegetation associated with service stations which can have a negative effect on the landscape amenity. This is influenced by the scale of space required to accommodate large numbers of heavy vehicles along with by the need for clear sight lines and a high visibility environment. 18. The Ashhurst Town Centre (Figure 11) is another example of the diversity found within this category. Ashhurst exhibits a rural service town character, much like other small New Zealand settlements, which exceeds the day to day living requirements as envisioned by the LBZ. Within Ashhurst the LBZ becomes the default zone for practically all non residential activities and includes a Tavern, two small supermarkets, Accountant and Church, just to name a few, as well as allowing residential activities. This makes the introduction of provisions specific to the Local Business Zone difficult. 13

14 Fig 12. The Landscape Supply Yard Fig 13. LBZ & Residential Interface Fig 14. LBZ & Residential Interface With Boundary Planting 14

15 19. The Landscape Supply Yard (Figure 12), located along Summerhill Drive, is a further example of an anomaly which does not primarily service the everyday requirements of local residents. It consists of a large open yard surrounded by wire fencing with the operations building located in the middle of the site. There is only a weak pedestrian relationship to the road as customers require cars, trucks or trailers to transport the goods being sold. This further illustrates how the Variations category of the LBZ needs to catch a range of activities that do not align neatly within the other zones. LANDSCAPE ASSESSMENT 20. The Local Business Zone provisions are designed to be permissive and flexible so as to encourage retention of the local business facilities, while at the same time ensuring an appropriate standard of amenity if retained or implemented. All of the above examples illustrate the presence of both smaller scale and larger scale developments within the LBZ, and the need for landscape provisions that are applicable to both if possible. Where new developments are undertaken, the provisions aim to ensure amenity is provided through planting, site layout, building scale and setback, carpark design and overall streetscape. There are four key aspects that have emerged as a result of looking at the existing zone landscape character. These have been assessed under the following categories; Residential Interface Car Parking Frontage Landscaping Small & Large Scale Provisions Residential Interface 21. It is common within the LBZ for activities to be bordered by residential dwellings (Figure 13) and this is displayed in all of the Neighbourhood examples. This indicates that a higher level of amenity protection may be needed for the LBZ and Residential Zone interface. Perimeter planting is a tool that can be used to provide a landscape buffer along this interface (Figure 14) which will enhance both the streetscape and internal amenity of each respective zone. 15

16 Fig 15. Terrace End Carpark Example Fig 16. Hokowhitu Carpark Example Fig 17. Herbert Avenue Carpark Example 16

17 22. The Operative District Plan has three main requirements that address the amenity of the LBZ and Residential interface. These are; A solid close-boarded fence of not less than 1.8m in height shall be erected on any boundary of a residentially or recreationally zoned site An amenity strip of not less than 3 metres in width shall be provided along the boundary of any site which adjoins a residential zoned property Where a site adjoins a residentially or recreationally zoned or used site any building or structure must be located at least 3m from the property boundary. 23. In most cases the 1.8m high fence is an effective visual screen which inadvertently restricts the LBZ boundary planting from extending landscape amenity into the Residential Zone. A 3m wide perimeter planting strip is considered to be excessive because it cannot be appreciated from the residential zone it is intending to protect. In this situation a 1.5m wide perimeter planting strip is sufficient to provide a buffer. Car Parking Landscape Design 24. On site car parking is another area where amenity could be improved by the implementation of boundary planting and internal specimen trees. This was observed in the Terrace End, Hokowhitu and Herbert Avenue examples (Figure 15, 16 & 17). The new provisions for the Inner and Outer Business Zone carpark areas are to have; Minimum width of 2metres for frontage planting strip, with minimum 1 specimen tree per 10 metres Any tree planted on a frontage shall be planted in an area with a minimum width of 2 metres and with a total area per tree of not less than 4m 2 An average of 1 specimen tree per 10 parks for internal carpark areas. The ratio of trees to parks would be as follows: Number of Car Parks Specimen Trees continued same ratio continued same ratio 17

18 Fig 18. Hokowhitu Un-built frontage 18

19 25. The 2m wide frontage planting with 1 specimen tree and associated area requirements are also acceptable in the LBZ and would maintain consistency between small and large scale development within the different Business Zones. I do however acknowledge that many activities within the LBZ will not reach the 10m carpark frontage length necessary to trigger the specimen tree requirement and so suggest that the Operative LBZ provision of 1 specimen tree per 7 metres be kept. 26. Currently the OBZ provisions (R ) require specimen trees but not planting along areas where car parks front the road. It is suggested that in the LBZ this be changed so that any carparks are required to also provide frontage planting strips. 27. The shape and size of many LBZ car parks typically make it difficult to internally distribute specimen trees due to the access and practicality requirements. The boundary specimen tree carpark planting, even at one specimen tree per 7m, is unlikely to be triggered by most LBZ areas. It is therefore recommended that the two internal specimen trees required for carparks, be allowed to sit in the perimeter planting of the carpark. The benefit of specimen trees on the streetscape is apparent so long as they are seen in conjunction with the carpark or shops and it is primarily on large scale carparks that internal trees are necessary. This will allow for more practical use of the small scale carparks, while maintaining the amenity value. Frontage Landscaping 28. The streetscape amenity would be improved if vegetation strips were introduced along inactive street frontages (Figure 18). However, this is hard to achieve in much of the LBZ because most buildings come right to the front boundary and therefore the actual un-built frontage available for planting is very limited. This is compounded by the fact that planting cannot occur where there is a driveway or pedestrian access strip. 29. These frontage amenity problems are primarily an architectural/urban design issue that is outside our brief and needs to be addressed by other experts, however it is important to note that this issue does have a direct influence on the streetscape which consequently affects the way in which people perceive and interact with the landscape. 19

20 Fig 19. Herbert Avenue Building adjacent to Zone Boundary Fig 20. Main Street BP with limited landscape amenity 20

21 30. There is an opportunity for planting to occur in areas where carparks front the road, but this is currently not required by the Operative Plan provisions. The Operative Plan requires a specimen tree (in an area of 4m2) for every 7m length of unbuilt frontage(including carparks), but does not require the 2m wide planting strip along the frontage. We recommend that the provision be amended to require a 2m wide planting strip along the carpark frontage. We also recommend that due to the typically smaller scale of the Local Business Zone that the requirement for frontage planting be triggered at 5m of unbuilt frontage inclusive of Car Park frontage. 31. There are instances within the LBZ where building footprints abut a residential property boundary (Figure 19) and this direct relationship does not detract from the streetscape. It provides a consistency of built form and is a better outcome than a vacant yard with associated blank side wall. Because of this, the suggestion put forward by Graham McIndoe to allow building up to the LB Zone boundary for the first 15m would be a positive outcome on the streetscape environment and should be an exemption from the required boundary planting at the LBZ Residential Zone interface. Small & Large Scale Provisions 32. Due to the catch all nature of this zone the landscape provisions put in place must be compatible with a variety of operations and not impose unnecessary constraints on future activities. The performance conditions of Permitted Activities relating to landscape amenity will sufficiently address both small and large development because the methods incrementally require more planting based on the scale of each proposal. 33. The landscape amenity in some situations, such as service stations (Figure 20), is intentionally reduced so that a higher level of safety can be achieved through increased visibility. The addition of a wide planter bed would improve the streetscape amenity of service stations, but this should not restrict visibility. In order to achieve a high degree of safety for pedestrians in and around the forecourt area, it is crucial that both pedestrians and motorists are in a high visibility environment and so this would need to be considered in association with an aesthetic amenity outcome. This situation should not cause a change to the permitted activity provisions, but instead shift the resource consent application to either a Restricted Discretionary or Unrestricted Discretionary Status where the Council can assess the application merits on a case by case basis. 21

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23 RECOMMENDATIONS 34. The Landscape Amenity Performance Conditions Proposed for the Outer Business Zone as Part of PC1 is considered applicable to the Local Business Zone with two changes; Street Frontage Any building that does not have a frontage to either a site in a residential zone or is not built to the street frontage, and whose frontage is not a car parking area, will provide at least one specimen tree for every 7 metres of site frontage, and a 2 metre wide planting strip for any length of unbuilt frontage greater than 5m, or equivalent suitable landscape works. Any building which fronts to a site in a residential zone and is not built to the street frontage, will provide, located at or on street frontage, at least one specimen tree for every 7 metres of site frontage. (No longer necessary as all areas are covered by above rule) Perimeter Planting An amenity strip of not less than metres in width shall be provided along the boundary of any site which adjoins a site in a residential zone. 35. In regards to the Car Parking Landscape Design provisions found in the transportation section of PC1, it is recommended that the Rule be amended to include; f. For a car parking area within the Local Business Zone that requires 2 internal specimen trees, it is acceptable to locate these as additional specimen trees within perimeter or frontage planting. 36. The Perimeter Planting requirements should not have to comply in situations where buildings extend to the LBZ/Residential Zone boundary for the first 15m. 37. The rest of the OBZ landscape provisions are considered applicable to the LBZ, including the Criteria for Restricted Discretionary Activities which are suitable for transfer over to the Local Business Zone and will allow for consistency throughout the District Plan. CONCLUSION 38. The assessment proposes a reduction in perimeter planting as the survey results indicate that an adequate standard of amenity can be attained with smaller yards, which in turn allows greater use of the local business site for other activities. Apart from this and other minor changes, the OBZ provisions can also apply to the proposed LBZ. 23