Hearings are being held this week to try and re-sort the Tauranga City Council's plan for Papamoa East and the Wairakei urban area.

There is a planning hearing and public excluded extraordinary council meeting today, followed by more hearings timetabled later in the week to enable TCC to find a way out of the planning mess it has created in Papamoa East.

The business is Plan change 25 – Wairakei Urban Growth Area, which is the latest effort to re-set planning rules that have been overtaken by events.

The original planning document for the area was Plan Change 44 to rezone land zoned Future Urban and Rural for residential, business and open space, supported by infrastructure planning, for a sustainable ‘live-work-play' urban community.

After the public submissions, hearing and an appeals process, the outcome was incorporated into the operative Tauranga City Plan 2011 through the City Plan Review process.

The current Comprehensive Development Consent process for urbanising Wairakei raised issues of consent compliance and around interpretation of the original provisions.

Expectations of the type and scale of urban development within Wairakei also changed from a high population high density urban development, to a reduced population / household yield more like conventional suburban development elsewhere in Tauranga. Higher density was provided for in distinct locations.

Proposed Plan Change Two (Wairakei Urban Growth Area) was notified on October 5, 2013. Its purpose was to simplify the provisions of the Wairakei Urban Growth Area and to align the provisions with those applying to other urban growth areas, while retaining infrastructure standards specific to the area.

Plan Change Two also recognised changes to council's Active Reserve Level of Service. Proposed Plan Change Two proceeded to the point in the Schedule One RMA process where submissions and further submissions had been lodged.

But after Plan change Two was notified, concerns were raised that the consultation was inadequate and it was placed on hold while this was considered. Since Plan Change Two was notified, several Special Housing Areas were gazetted in the Wairakei Urban Growth Area, including over land that not currently zoned for residential use.

There has also been a shift in the location of areas that provide for additional height through the gazettal of SHAs. This represents a significant change in circumstances from when Plan Change Two was initially prepared. Tauranga City council withdrew Plan Change Two in February 2016.

The purpose of Plan Change 25 – Wairakei Urban Growth Area is to address the following issues arising from the ongoing development of the area:

(a) Consent Compliance Cost for the CDC;

(b) Implementation of SHAs over large areas of land providing for different uses than the current zoning;

(c) Remaining Papamoa East Employment Zone not included in the SHAs that would result in the provision for employment pockets surrounded by residential development;

(d) The need to reflect previous decisions made by Council to remove the active reserve within the Wairakei Urban Growth Area;

(e) The timing and funding of key pieces of infrastructure; and

(f) The provision of schools, tertiary education premises and community facilities.

(a) Rezone Papamoa East Employment land (excluding land around the Papamoa East Interchange) to Wairakei Residential;

(b) Relocate and resize Wairakei Neighbourhood Centre Zones;

(c) Provide for Medium Rise Plan Areas in the Wairakei Residential Zone;

(d) Rezone Active Open Space land to Wairakei Residential; and

(e) Remove the need for a CDC in the Wairakei Residential Zone to provide a planning framework similar to other residential zones in the city.