Stringent rule proposals restricting waterfront building heights and sizes on the Wairoa River and Tauranga Harbour have been relaxed.
The Western Bay of Plenty District Council's Proposed District Plan originally had called for specific Landscape Management Areas for the Tauranga Harbour and Wairoa River Valley extending 300 metres from Mean High Water Springs (MHWS) and the river margin respectively.
The Landscape Management Areas were divided into two distinct parts for which different restrictions applied.



Within the area up to 100m inland of MHWS, all buildings would have been restricted discretionary activities and required resource consent.
Between 100m and 300m inland of MHWS, buildings could be established as permitted activities subject to stricter standards pertaining to building colour, reflectivity, vegetation removal, earthworks, and house and other building sizes which would have restricted homes to single-storey only.
As a result of submissions saying the 100m setback was too harsh and that some of the permitted activity performance standards were also too strict, councillors reverted to the original 40m setback for the Tauranga Harbour and 20m setback from the Wairoa River; where resource consent is required.
The 300m Landscape Management Areas for the harbour and river are retained, but the permitted activity controls are limited to colour, reflectivity, vegetation removal and the vertical face height of earthworks.
The submission have also seen the council remove restrictions relating to the size and height of buildings constructed along the harbour between 40m and 300m from MHWS and between 20m and 300m from the river margins.
The Open Coastal Landward Edge Protection Yard extending 100m from MHWS on Rural Zoned land has been retained as proposed – this applies only to Matakana Island and Pukehina.