Plan Change 33 Mount Maunganui: Residents ‘furious’ as commission rejects panel recommendation

Mount Maunganui residents are “furious” Tauranga’s commission has rejected a recommendation from an independent hearing panel to retain the downtown suburb’s current building height limit of three storeys, a developer says.

But
the commission says the “severity” of Tauranga’s housing deficit means it needs to be “as enabling as possible” of a range of future housing options.

Tauranga City Council has proposed raising the allowable building heights in Mount Maunganui North as part of Plan Change 33.

Heights of six storeys are proposed in the shopping area and within 400m of it, then four storeys between 400m and 800m of the shops.

Following submissions, a four-person independent hearing panel recommended retaining the current building heights of three storeys, partly due to Mount Maunganui centre’s “unique” nature.

Local Democracy Reporting reported the commission rejected the panel’s recommendation at a council meeting on Monday.

The decision would be referred to a Government minister for a final call.

Classic Group director and Mount Maunganui resident Peter Cooney said he thought it was a “disgrace” and “absolutely unacceptable” for the commission to disregard the independent hearings panel’s verdict.

The panel were “all experts in their field” and the process cost the city “a fortune”, he said.

“There’s absolute outrage. People in Mount Maunganui are just furious with it.”

In his view: “If the commissioners weren’t there and it was a normal democracy, there’s no way that that would get ruled in.”

Cooney said he and others in the community planned to put forward “our own private plan change” once the new council was elected.

Mount Business Association chairwoman Kate Barry-Piceno said members were “appalled” by the unelected commission “overriding” the independent panel’s recommendation.

She said the “very highly specialised” panel had an expert board who heard “hundreds of hours” of expert evidence, listened to submissions and “weighed up that evidence really carefully with very sound, well-reasoned decision”.

She said the association would put forward an expectation for the new council to reverse any decision if the Minister for the Environment agreed with the council’s view.

Barry-Piceno said the association was not “anti-growth” and supported a “growing and thriving” future for Mount Maunganui.

“But it’s a very delicate balance in the Mount town centre and it’s one that needs to keep its coastal, resort-like, tourist destination and protect that.”

Mount Maunganui Ratepayers, Residents and Retailers Association president Michael O’Neill – who is running for council – said the push to put the commission in a “caretaker” mode in the election run-up was because, in his view, “we were scared they would make silly decisions like this in their final days”.

He said there was a “strong drive” among locals “not to turn Mount Maunganui into another Gold Coast”.

Tauranga City Council responds

The reasoning for the commission’s decision was outlined in a council report that said increasing building heights in Mount Maunganui North would give effect to the National Policy Statement on Urban Development 2020, in particular, by creating more development opportunities and improving housing affordability.

It would ensure a “well-functioning” urban environment and enable building heights and densities in proportion to the level of commercial activity and community services.

It would also contribute to the city’s development capacity need, which is how much land a council must have available for housing and commercial activity to meet demand.

While taller buildings may not be built in the short term, if the greater heights were not permitted the council risked being unable to meet its long-term development capacity under the policy statement, the report said.

In a statement, commission chairwoman Anne Tolley said given the severity of Tauranga’s current and projected housing deficit, the commissioners felt it was important to ensure Plan Change 33 would be “as enabling as possible” to allow for a wider range of future housing choices over time.

That approach would then allow the Minister for the Environment to make a final decision.

Tolley said a number of “qualifying matters” in the Mount Maunganui North area would influence future consent decisions relating to building heights. According to the council, these could include viewshafts to Mauao.

The council’s city planning team leader Janine Speedy said three submissions seeking additional height in Mount Maunganui North were received during the submissions period in August/September 2022.

“Several” submissions from Mount Maunganui residents generally opposing the Medium Density Residential Standards were also received, she said.

A letter was sent to residents within the Mount Maunganui area to advise that submissions seeking additional height in Mount Maunganui North had been received and would be considered by the panel, she said.

Through the subsequent further submissions process in November/December 2022, 205 further submissions were received, many from Mount Maunganui residents.

Of the two-week hearing that followed, two days were spent on submitters speaking regarding the Mount Maunganui North area, Speedy said.

Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.