Tauranga Council has signed off the City Plan and obtained a 2011 RMA Consent on the Waterfront within the past 12 months yet Variation 6 (Rule 17) dealt with at a Commissioners Hearing last week sought changes which in effect seeks to accommodate commercial buildings up to 2 levels in height with huge 450m2 and 300m2 footprints on the Strand Waterfront strip of land only 30m wide by about 800m in length, plus increase permitted temporary activities from 21 days.
Passive green open space was how Council sold the Redevelopment to the Tauranga public and yet this commercial mindset driven by Priority One, Chamber of Commerce and all the usual suspects now takes precedence over the environment promised to Tauranga residents.
This under the radar approach is a complete breach of faith by Council which is now clearly supporting commercial interests against what is best for the Waterfront marine environment, flying in the face of the Foreshore and Seabed Legislation and the NZ Coastal Policy Statement thereby ‘sacrificing the environment'. The Opening Day party for what looks like only a 6 metre wide concrete concourse, held last weekend should have been a ‘wake' not a celebration. There is nothing exciting about the prospect of a commercialised concrete jungle on the Tauranga Waterfront. Mark my words, within the next 3-5 years, the development on the Strand Reclamation will be a disaster and in my view, anyone who thinks otherwise is daydreaming.

R.Paterson, Matapihi.