A farmer's duck shooting pond – designated a special ecological area, is the kind of land being argued over for the future city site at Te Tumu.
About 2000 acres, or 809.3 ha over three farms, much of which is land formed from sand dunes, is intended over the next few decades to provide housing for about 40,000 people.
The farms at Papamoa East are next to conservation estate, including the Kaituna wetlands and the dunes.

Some of the contentious land.

The council planners were using aerial photographs and out of date information to draw lines on maps for inclusion in the district plan review, say Te Tumu land owners.
Unhappy about the council planners' approach, they hired their own experts, at a cost so far of $40,000 and they reported their opinions on the process at the council's strategy and policy committee after speaking directly with council staff.
The issues are far from resolved, says landowners' group spokesman Jeff Fletcher.
'You can only imagine the landowners' response when they found out third parties were consulted without any direct consultation with the landowners themselves,” says Jeff.
Information about ecological areas, habitats and fauna is at least 10 years old and there has been no satisfactory attempt to update the information.
'The landowners ask why they need to go to considerable expense to protect their lands from clearly inadequate studies and assessments.
'The landowners understand and recognise that there are key areas that need to be protected and enhanced as part of the future urbanisation of Te Tumu and believe the most constructive way for this to occur is in collaboration with council as part of a future planning exercise on Te Tumu – as opposed to the current process where clearly both landowners and council will need to spend vast amounts of money to resolve polarised positions.”
Jeff says their concern is that once a line is drawn on a draft district plan it has some legal status and it can be very difficult to remove.
Christine Jones, the city council's group manger strategy and policy, says there are two separate issues and two separate processes involved.
The council approach is to separate the landscape and ecological issues from the land use issues – the future zoning and proposed urban development.
She says the Te Tumu issues' present status is one of informal discussions. The council's draft district plan has to be notified and the public submission process heard, and the plan can still be appealed.
'There's still a long process to go through.”
A recommendation that further field investigations be undertaken was carried. The technical experts will walk the site either later this week or early next week.
Councillors also carried a recommendation that outstanding and important landscapes be identified and further field investigations be made of highly modified areas.