Tauranga City Council is recommending to the Minister of Housing that six special housing areas be established in Papamoa East.

The six areas belong to different developers intending residential construction in Wairakei between the Tauranga Eastern Link, the drainage reserve and east of Parton Road.

The special housing areas recommended for Papamoa East.

There were 152 submissions on the proposal, with many submitters concerned about the stresses accelerating the growth at Waikakei will place on an already overtaxed infrastructure.

Other issues centred around the traffic impact - specifically Papamoa Beach Road - tsunami evacuation routes and the height of the development backing on to Simpson Road.

In response to concerns raised at the meeting by Papamoa ward councillor Steve Morris, Council is set to consider widening part of Papamoa Beach Road and constructing a roundabout at its intersection with Parton Road as well as providing a number of pedestrian refuges.

These are in addition to bringing construction of the $20m Te Okuroa Drive project forward five years to 2018.

The Council will consider bringing forward capital expenditure for evacuation routes in Papamoa East through its 2015-25 LTP deliberations.

Council staff will work with the developers of the Palm Springs site by requesting they stage their subdivision in a manner that connects The Boulevard and Te Okuroa Drive as soon as is practical.

Without revised timing, connecting The Boulevard to Te Okuroa Drive might not happen until about 2020, leaving Emerald Shores Drive as the only connection from Papamoa East to Te Okuroa Drive for two years.

Councillors are also at Steve's request to look at restricting building heights in the Nga Potiki block to nine metres.

The Nga Potiki block is 27 hectares, and the developers envisage building 400-460 housing units plus an urban centre in the middle of the block with possible four-six level developments.

Steve's concern is that the development backs onto Simpson Road, but the high rise is intended for the land across the drainage ditch.

'In my view it is important not to change the game when it impacts on existing residents,” says Steve.

'Future residents have a choice if they wish to build a home close to an apartment building.”

Developers are responsible for building internal collector roads to join up to Te Okuroa Drive - the second road out of Papamoa East.

Steve adds: 'If we stopped all further development occurring until 2018 when Te Okuroa Drive is built, we could potentially be delaying the connection of Emerald Shores Drive to that road beyond 2018.

'The community would have to wait for the developers to sell their sections along the route after 2018 and catch up.

'If there is another recession in a few years' time then the connection could be at risk for longer. Allowing development to occur now means that the connecting roads will be in place in time to use Te Okuroa Drive.”

If each of the Papamoa East special housing areas proceeds, the community's concerns about traffic management on Papamoa Beach Road, as well as building scale, design and layout, can be addressed in detail at the qualifying development consent stage.

Tauranga City Council signed a housing accord with the government earlier this year to free up land for development more rapidly with the intention of bringing down prices.

The Special Housing Accord is not there for the purposes of creating cheap housing areas or areas where there will be inferior quality of housing, says developer Peter Cooney.

'Rather, it is helping free up land at a quicker rate, which enables more houses to be built and drives more competition,” he says.

'The benefits are twofold; this approach helps drive down the price of land and enables and puts some restrictions on those areas where they want to see more affordable homes being built and to achieve that.”