Tauranga is short on homes, but building houses higher and denser will be “difficult” due to infrastructure challenges.

Tauranga City Council city planning team leader Janine Speedy made the comments during the start of hearings on intensification plans for the city.

“We have a housing shortfall, which we need to respond to.

“The primary purpose of the plan change is for residential intensification,” Speedy told the independent hearing panel.

Plan change 33 - Enabling Housing Supply is in response to the Government’s changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that allows for greater intensification in urban areas.

The panel is made up of chairperson David Hill and commissioners Fraser Campbell, Vicki Morrison-Shaw and Richard Knott.

Campbell asked if the major issues with infrastructure capacity were around new greenfield developments, or existing urban brownfield developments.

Speedy said it was both. Greenfield developments required significant modelling and when development reached a certain point, upgrades to infrastructure were required.

Brownfield developments were “extremely difficult” to manage because the existing urban areas were “highly constrained”, she said.

“It will continually be difficult for Tauranga to achieve intensification, but we need to enable it.”

Tauranga City Council city planning team leader Janine Speedy. Photo: Alisha Evans/ SunLive

There weren’t many full sections left in urban areas, making it more challenging, she said.

The city also had many cross leases and a “huge number” of covenants.

Tauranga City Council has proposed greater building heights around the city and classified areas into neighbourhood, local or town centres.

Buildings in town centres could be up to six storeys, local centres could be four storeys and neighbourhood centres up to three storeys.

Tauranga’s city centre could have building heights up to 13 storeys and eight storeys along Cameron Road, which runs the length of the Te Papa Peninsula.

The peninsula includes the area from Sulphur Point on the harbour to Greerton where it meets State Highway 29 A.

Other areas set for intensification include the Gate Pā shopping centre, Greerton Village, the Bethlehem commercial area, Bayfair in Mount Maunganui and Pāpāmoa Plaza.

These have been classified as town centres with some height limits proposed as eight storeys and others six.

Building heights in downtown Mount Maunganui were also proposed to rise. Heights of six storeys could be enabled in the shopping area and within 400 metres of it, then four storeys between 400-800m of the shops.

People would also be able to build more on their residential sections without needing sign-off from council, or approval from neighbours.

Hearing panel commisioner Fraser Campbell. Photo: Alisha Evans/ SunLive.

To comply with the legislation, buildings of up to three stories and having three dwellings on a site don’t require resource consent as of August 20, 2022.

This was to enable more medium density townhouses and duplexes to be built right across the city.

Plan Change 33 was notified in August 2022 with a month long submission period. Submitters were able to make further submissions in November and December and initial hearings were held in July.

More than 600 submissions were received.

A large number of submissions raised concerns around traffic congestion, adequate public transport and open space, providing for multi-modal transport like cycling.

Concerns were also raised about sufficient infrastructure, like water, electricity, internet and medical services, Speedy said.

The council had considered those within the legislative requirements and there were limitations, she said.

One of these was height and density could only be limited by council when there were qualifying matters.

Infrastructure was not considered a qualifying matter.

The council had carried out modelling and population projections, and looked at transport infrastructure.

“There are benefits to the transport network through intensification.

"It's all about having residential housing with an appropriate locations where you're close to services.”

The hearings will be held daily until October 10 with Tauranga City Council continuing its submissions.

Other submitters include Bay Of Plenty Regional Council, Kāinga Ora - Homes and Communities, Mount Business Association, property developers Bluehaven Group and Classic Group as well as individuals.

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