Palmerston North District Council

Palmerston North District Council - Industrial Zone Planning Rules  

The below guidance is our knowledge of the rules and regulations and is provided to assist you in your assessment and early planning but does not constitute official or legal advice.  

When building within an Industrial Zone in the Palmerston North City District (noted as PNCD) there are some key rules to follow to make sure you comply with to avoid requiring a Resource Consent.  

PNCD has 2 main zones within the Industrial Zone umbrella, all with varying rules.  

• Industrial Zone 
• North East Industrial Zone 

To help you understand the requirements in each zone we have broken down the key permitted activities and rules below for each different zone.  

Note: There are area specific rules that may also apply to your project, the XL Structural Architectural Team are available for guidance in the rules of the PNCD Plan. 

Permitted Activities

Industrial Zones

Any activity except for:  

• Those specified as Restricted Discretionary Activities, Discretionary Activities  

or Non-Complying Activities Is a Permitted Activity, provided that performance standards are complied with. 

 North East Industrial Zones 

• Industrial activities  
• Warehousing, storage and depots  
• Roads, walkways, railway access, and cycleways  
• Ancillary office and retail activities   
• Ancillary parking areas and buildings   
• Prepared food & beverage outlets  
• Service stations  
• Flood protection and soil conservation activities  
• Staff recreation facilities ancillary to a permitted use 
• Establishment and maintenance of planting areas 
• Water attenuation activities within water course reserve areas  

If your business falls within these activities it will likely be a permitted activity with Council.  

If your business operates outside of these categories you will likely require resource consent to build in this zone and the PNCD plan does have specific non-complying activities listed for particular zones, if you are unsure the XL Structural Architectural team will be able to help you confirm.

Performance Standards 

Industrial Zones 

Maximum Height of proposed buildings 

• Maximum Building Height Any buildings or structures shall comply, in terms of maximum height with R13.4.7.1. 
•  Any building or structure on a site adjoining a site in a Residential Zone must comply with R10.6.1.1(a) and (b) except that the 9m maximum height limit does not apply beyond 20 metres from all residential boundaries.  

Road Setback 

• On sites fronting onto any Major Arterial or Minor Arterial Road, any building or structure, excluding signs, shall be set back no less than 8 metres from the road frontage.  
• On all other sites any building or structure, excluding signs, shall be set back no less than 3 metres from any road frontage.  

Recession Planes 

There are recession planes specific to individual sites to adhere to if your site adjoins a Residential Zone, the XL Structural Architectural Team will be able to help you confirm. 

North East Industrial Zones 

Maximum Height of proposed buildings 

• All buildings and structures shall comply with R13.4.7.1 (Airport Protection Surface) or 9 metres whichever is the lower.  

Road Setback 

• Any activity (including signs, fences and buildings) shall comply with the performance standards in R12A.5.1 (which relates to the boundaries of those sites fronting external roads).  
• On the boundaries of sites which front internal roads (i.e. those roads which exclude Railway Road, Roberts Line, and Richardsons Line), any building or structure, excluding signs, shall be set back a minimum distance of 3 metres from any road frontage.  

Maximum Building Size 

• All buildings located on-site with a total gross floor area of up to 500m2 are permitted.  
• Any side of a building up to 50m in length is permitted (regardless of insets or setbacks within the overall building form).  

Recession Planes 

There may be recession planes specific to individual sites to adhere to if your site adjoins a Residential Zone, the XL Structural Architectural Team will be able to help you confirm. 

Other rules applicable to ALL industrial zones in PNCD Plan 

HAIL and contaminated land 

From experience XL is aware a lot of industrial land may have been developed on contaminated or HAIL land. The PNCD Plan has rules and policies in place for contaminated land. 

XL Structural will be able to assist you with your project to ensure you are not breaching these requirements. 

Carparking and Landscaping 

The PNCD Plan has rules and policies in place for the various Zones for car parking and landscaping. If providing car parking you will still need to comply with NZS 4121:2001 and provide 1 accessible car park per 1-20 spaces.  

It is also important to consider the surrounding environment and where your staff working within your new building will park if limited spaces are provided. 

There are also minimum dimensions for car parks depending on the layout you choose to use on your site, along with turning circle and road width requirements. XL can work through the best car park layout for your site with you. 

Landscaping requirements differ for each zone with regard to depth, spacing and species of planting. 

These are the main rules which your building needs to comply with to avoid needing a resource consent, it is important to understand there may be further rules to comply with. PNCD Plan can be challenging to navigate, we would recommend reaching out to the XL Structural team who will be happy to conduct a concise and detailed preliminary planning review for your project. 

You can find the full Palmerston North City District Plan here