Tauranga business group wants Plan Change 33 to be part of election talks

A Mount Business Association member says the plan could damage the area's reputation of "coastal village beach-vibes". (file image) Photo: 123rf

A group of businesses in the heart of Bay of Plenty's Mount Maunganui want development to be pivotal voting issue in the upcoming city council election.

Earlier this month, the Tauranga City Council commissioners recommended allowing more Mount Maunganui buildings to reach a height of 22m under Plan Change 33.

The plan change was in response to the previous government's changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) which allowed for greater intensification in urban areas.

Mount Business Association member Kate Barry-Piceno, who is also resource management specialist lawyer, said they had invited all mayoral and council candidates to a meeting on Tuesday night at the Mount Maunganui Surf Lifesaving Club to inform voters on their position.

Barry-Piceno believed the area was Tauranga's most successful commercial centre partly because it was not full of high-rises.

"It's a tourist destination for the very nature of its coastal village beach-vibes feel. We don't want to be a blanket commercial centre, going up to six or eight stories," she said.

On 24 May, 2024, Tauranga City Council Commissioner Anne Tolley wrote to Minister for the Environment Penny Simmonds and Minister for Resource Management Act Reform Chris Bishop and asked that they overrule part of the recommendations from an Independent Housing Panel, which would have left the permitted height for a building in Mount Maunganui at 12 metres.

Barry-Piceno said the business association would like the new council to bring their own plan change to reverse the commissioners' decision.

"We don't know what minister Bishop is going to decide, whether to accept the commissioners' recommendation to reject the heading panel."

Mount Matters Group spokesperson Barry Brown said Tauranga was extremely fortunate to have had Plan Change 33 addressed by an independent expert panel.

Mount Matters Group were astounded the commissioners ignored the panel's recommendation when it came to Mount Maunganui, he said.

"The Mount doesn't just belong to those who live there - it's a much loved and hugely important economic driver for all of Tauranga. We can't stand by and watch Mount Maunganui lose its identity. That's why we need to take action," Brown said.

In a previous statement to RNZ, Tolley said Tauranga had a significant housing deficit, which meant there was little choice in the type and size of homes available for people to live in, and that the city's housing costs were the most unaffordable of any New Zealand city.

"To help address these issues, Tauranga needs to grow up as well as out," Tolley said.

However, she said in the end the development of The Mount was in the hands of land owners.

"Increased heights in places like Mount Maunganui North are needed to increase our housing capacity and enable much-needed future development, but they are not automatic.

"The qualifying matters built into PC33 [Plan Change 33] will help to protect community values and visible change will only happen as people decide to redevelop land in existing residential areas."