Sections 95 to 95G of the RMA guides the process for deciding whether or not an application for resource consent should be notified. Factors to consider include whether there is an adverse effect on the environment that is more than minor. Additionally an application can be notified at the request of the applicant. If you consider that your application is of the nature and/or scale that the Marlborough District Council is likely to notify it anyway, you can cut down time by requesting that your application be notified in the application itself.
Affected party approvals supplied by the applicant assist the Resource Management Officer to identify who should be notified and whether the notification should be limited to a selection of affected parties or publicly notified where anyone has a right to lodge a submission to the application.
The time in which an application is notified varies. In the case of a fast track application the notification must occur no later than 10 working days after the application is lodged. Applications that are not fast tracked must be notified no later than 20 working days after the day the application is lodged.
The notification period provides 20 working days for people to lodge submissions in response to the application.
Following notification there may be a requirement to schedule a hearing on the application. There may be a pre-hearing meeting as well to try and resolve submitter concerns.
The time frame in which the hearing takes place varies again depending on whether the application was notified and, if so, whether it was notified on a public or limited basis.
If an application was not notified the hearing must commence within 35 days after the lodgement of the application. If the application was notified on a limited basis the hearing must be completed no later than 45 days after the closing date of submissions. If the application was publicly notified the hearing must be completed no later than 75 days after the closing date of submissions.
Any of the above time frames can be extended or waivered in specific circumstances. Section 37 guides the process to do this.
A key take home message is to factor in time frames for the processing of applications for resource consent. There are many stages for which legislation provides a specific time frame that may be triggered by an application. Remember to take theses time frames into consideration when planning any projects and scheduling work on site. Works that are the subject of an application cannot commence until the grant of consent (which may require building consent too).
