Bethlehem's proposed 350 student wharekura, or Maori language high school, has been approved by independent commissioner Greg Hill.
The application by the Ministry of Education to build the school on the corner of Bethlehem Road and Westmorland Drive was the subject of three days of public hearings in September.

However, that is not the end of it, says Tauranga City Council principal planner Rebecca Perrett.
'Because it is a designation, Greg Hill has to make a recommendation which has been sent to all submitters and the applicant,” says Rebecca.
'The Ministry is then required to make its own recommendation.”
If the council or submitters don't like the Ministry's response they have to take the issue to the Environment Court.
'It is a bit of a different way around to most applications,” says Rebecca. 'In this case, because the land is being acquired by the Ministry under a designation under the Resource Management Act, council only has the ability to make a recommendation.”
Greg Hill made a recommendation to approve the Year 7–13 college subject to conditions that Rebecca says are a mix of what the Ministry, the council and submitters wanted.
Among the general landscaping recommendations about planting, sound and light levels, Greg has recommended that a mature tulip tree on site that the Ministry wanted felled, be kept.
The Ministry also didn't want to pay development and subdivision fees. It is exempt under the Local Government Act, but not under the Resource Management Act.
He's recommended the Ministry of Education pay just under $500,000 in resource consent fees for water, waste water, storm water and transportation and that it also pay $21.5121 plus GST per square metre of gross floor area. This is the Tauranga City Council fee structure in effect for the current year. If this is not taken then next year's rate will be used.
The amounts are the same as paid by other developers for building consents granted in the city in the current financial year.