Tauranga developer Bob Clarkson isn't letting on about what he's going to say to city councillors on Monday.

Tauranga developer Bob Clarkson.

Bob's got ten minutes to speak before councillors discuss whether to declare Bob's Tauriko development land a Special Housing Area.

The staff recommendation is for council to turn Bob Down. When asked what he was going to say about that on Friday, bob refused to be drawn.

It's been nearly four years since Bob first broached the affordable housing prospects for his Tauriko land in open business.

Bob went to the council in February 2012 offering to drive down Tauranga housing costs by refusing to profit on the rezoning of what was then said to be 250 hectares of land he owns at Tauriko.

He bought the land for about $24.50 a square metre. Re-zoning it to residential will give him an immediate profit of about $70 million.

His offer to the council was to sell residential zoned land for the price he paid for it, and bulk by on building materials.

He told the previous council he can offer first home buyers a three bedroom home on 400m2 with a two car internal garage for $280,000. In Tauranga a similar house on a smaller section costs $400-410,000 says Bob. There will be covenants to prevent profiteering.

His intention is to sprinkle the affordable housing through the staged development in a move that will apply pressure on other developer's prices.

Over time he intends to build about 1000 affordable homes in the development which will comprise about half the 2000 sections

He also offered to supply his own water and sewerage schemes, so there will be no requirement for council impact fees. Under present Tauranga City Council rules the development is not permitted to use the council's southern pipeline because the bulk of the land is outside the city in the Western Bay of Plenty District. But Bob's done the figures in case it changes its mind.

Bob said he already obtained approval from the NZ Transport Agency for a roundabout providing access to a hoped for nearby industrial subdivision behind the Tauriko Service station. The land will take 150-200 houses with half of them being affordable, and from there the process can continue through the staged development.

Nearly four years later and council staff have prepared a report recommending the council turn the Special Housing request, but they want to have another look at Bob's Tauriko development.

The reason is because Bob's development offer is outside the development agreement already adopted by the council, which is to follow the SmartGrowth Settlement Pattern review project – a growth plan that doesn't forsee Bob developing the Tauriko land.

While staff recommend Bob doesn't get a special housing zone, the further recommendation is for the councillors to require a report-back on the need to fast track planning and plan change processes for additional greenfield land supply outside of the adopted SmartGrowth Settlement Pattern Review project / timeframes. And they want to focus that reporting on the city's western corridor in the vicinity of Tauriko.

Bob owns 40 hectares on the city side of the boundary with the Western Bay of Plenty District. The staff report states he owns another 160 hectares of adjoining land in District that can also be developed.

While a Special Housing Area under the recently signed accord with the government will accelerate the housing development, Bob's 20 hectare industrial development would not be progressed under the accord.