Residents of a Tauranga suburb are concerned a new housing development will have a “huge impact” on traffic that is already “horrendous”.
The residents want a second access added to the planned 13-hectare Pukemapu subdivision in Ōhauiti to alleviate their concerns, but Tauranga City Council says doing so would be prohibitively expensive.
The new subdivision will be built on land that slopes down from the Rowesdale subdivision towards Pukemapu Rd, and an existing Rowesdale Drive house will be demolished to build the only access road.
The developer Carrus said it was unknown how many homes would be built but the council website said about 200 were planned.
Kerrie, who did not want her surname published, lives near Rowesdale Drive and said she and some other neighbours wanted the subdivision’s developers to build a second access to Pukemapu Rd, which connects to Oropi Rd, to alleviate traffic pressures through Ōhauiti.
“It’ll have a huge impact on the traffic. The traffic’s already horrendous.
“It’s a wider community that’s affected. It’s not just us, it’s all of Ōhauiti and probably some of Welcome Bay as well.
“The developer should have to put in that [second] access point.”
The area also didn’t have schools or amenities like a supermarket, she said.
Kerrie said the council had told her access to the subdivision was the developers’ responsibility.
Tauranga City Council bought two properties on Rowesdale Drive in Ōhauiti to enable access to the land behind for development. Photo / David Hall
“The council is telling us we need to fight this with the developer to get the new road put in. It’s nothing to do with council.”
The council bought two properties at the end of Rowesdale Drive in 2020 to enable access to the Pukemapu land.
These properties had covenants that prohibited them being used to enable development of the adjoining land.
The council needed agreement from the other 21 property owners who were under the same covenant to change it to provide access to land behind. The alternative was to use a Public Works Act acquisition or High Court process to change the covenant.
Talks with owners started in December 2021. The property owners obtained legal representation and an agreement on compensation was reached with the council in January 2023.
The covenants on the two Rowesdale Drive properties were revoked, enabling access and services to the developable land.
The covenants on other Rowesdale subdivision properties stayed the same.
The site of the Pukemapu subdivision is outlined in yellow. Photo / Supplied
Kerrie was also upset the council used ratepayer money to buy the homes.
“I just thought how unfair it was, our ratepayer money being used to buy two houses that they’re just going to bowl down. They’ve used our ratepayer money to pay out [compensation to] those 21 properties.”
Council strategy, growth and governance general manager Christine Jones said the council paid $2.33 million for the two properties but this would be paid back by the developer.
Only one of the two homes would need to be demolished for the new road and the other house could be resold, she said.
The total compensation for the 21 properties was $3.16m but the individual amounts were confidential, Jones said.
The council paid two-thirds and the developer paid one-third but would pay the council share as development happened, she said.
Developers Carrus and Classic Group were working together on the development and controlled most of the developable land, Jones said.
Council strategy, growth and governance general manager Christine Jones. Photo / Alex Cairns
Council investigations showed Rowesdale Drive was the most suitable access point, she said.
Multiple access points were preferable but not possible because of constraints and the costs involved, Jones said.
The Pukemapu Rd option was not feasible and had a prohibitive cost, she said.
Traffic congestion was a “significant issue” during weekday-morning peak-hour but outside this the network generally performed well in Ōhauiti, Jones said.
“While additional traffic will have effects on the community, the shortage of housing in the city also has significant impacts and this area is one of few options to make a meaningful addition to the city’s housing supply in a relatively short timeframe.”
The council agreed better schooling options were needed in the area and had been engaging with the Ministry of Education for some years, she said.
“We are also aware of the lack of retail and commercial offering in the suburb and plan to investigate this further as part of our upcoming review of commercial and industrial zones across the city.”
The council was also considering investigating other access options for Ōhauiti, Jones said.
Carrus managing director Scott Adams. Photo / NZME
Carrus managing director Scott Adams said they were working through options and timeframes for the development.
“We don’t have a workable subdivision plan as yet.”
Adams said it was unknown yet how many homes would be built.
The land had been zoned residential for about 25 years, he said.
Residential growth took up most of the water and wastewater capacity that was allocated for the project and no infrastructure planning or upsizing had occurred since despite the residential zoning, Adams said.
Having multiple transport connections to the site would be awesome, he said.
“The reality is traffic congestion is a citywide problem, and every motorist in the city endures it daily.”
In his view: “Transport planning has been neglected in Tauranga for decades.”
Investment was needed to invest in highway network upgrades across the city to allow traffic to flow better, Adams said.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
14 comments
You reckon?
Posted on 29-05-2025 07:02 | By TGA Local07
Try to get out of oropi road between 7-9am and tell me how you get on. Absolutely not will a road connect pukemapu road to ohauiti. You guys can keep your horrendous designed traffic from your subdivision
Another idea not thought out
Posted on 29-05-2025 09:13 | By Snapper435
Has any council member or the developer seen the congestion in Hollister lane, Poike Road in the morning, this is going to cause the traffic to be bedlam, I think the council and developers need to take there head out of the sand and rethink the access to this area. To do .4 of a kilometre in the morning can take 15 to 20 minutes so with extra traffic who knows how long we will be wasting fuel sitting waiting.
Blame shifting
Posted on 29-05-2025 09:20 | By The Sage
How can the Council state that the access to this area is the responsibility of the Developer when they bought two houses on Rowesdale Drive to allow access? Someone is not being upfront. No way should the development have been approved without proper accessway and services being in place. Yet another example of incompetence and wastage by TCC.
disgusting
Posted on 29-05-2025 09:55 | By BarryM
This is disgusting of council and lacked transparency. One road in and out with congestion already. 200 houses, in an emergency would cause concern for fire trucks, or when roadworks were required, no alternative. Imagine a natural disaster, flooding, or multiple houses on fire spreading (think California fires) the chaos of people attempting to flee and if the road was blocked, people trapped! Not to mention, the roads are not wide enough for emergency services should it be during peak traffic periods.
We are not one of the houses paid compensation, but we did purchased due to protective covenants and the quiet peaceful neighbourhood we were of the understanding was protected. Ratepayer money used for deceitful purposes and they try redirect blame back to the developer. I fought something similar and we won against Ohakune council, we wont let this stand
City Planners listen up
Posted on 29-05-2025 13:10 | By WestieMum
I can relate to concerns of the residents, and it's about time some serious City Planning was put in place urgently for Welcome Bay and Ohauiti - like the infrastructure/roading for all the carving up of land into subdivisions that's happening or proposed. Everything has to flow down on to Ohauiti or Welcome Bay roads, and it's just not sustainable when more and more subdivisions are being approved up Ohauiti, Kaitemako, Waitaha, Waikite, and further out Welcome Bay road. Some serious planning needs to happen to earmark land for a road linking across from the top of rural Welcome Bay, Waikite, Waitaha and Kaitemako that connects with SH29. These areas of Tauranga seem to be forgotten when it comes to roading and amenities (shopping etc). Isn't that the purpose of having city planners?
Traffic woes
Posted on 29-05-2025 13:18 | By Poe's Lawyer
We all know what causes this traffic in Tauranga, It's all those buses and cyclists on the road! What we need is MORE LANES FOR CARS! There is plenty of room if you remove that wasted space at the side of the road, I only ever see a handful of people using these "footpaths" SO JUST REMOVE THEM and add more space for cars!
1 lane bridge
Posted on 29-05-2025 13:54 | By rogue
I can't see the residents of Pukemapu Rd wanting increased traffic entering their road just to appease Ohauiti residents.
The little 1 lane bridge would surely be problematic., the bridgeis the territorial authority boundary.... likewise the flow of services running from TCC into WBOPC then back into TCC lands
We're full!
Posted on 29-05-2025 14:12 | By phoebe12
Who says there a shortage of houses in Tauranga? There's more than enough for the residents who already live here, so it must be pressure from outsiders then? Well guess what - WE'RE FULL, and the infrastructure is not currently there or anywhere in Tauranga to accommodate more homes for those who want to push in! So maybe politely push off to somewhere else please.
Really!
Posted on 29-05-2025 15:39 | By Wigan
Tauranga is often described as the worst city in NZ for traffic. One of the main reasons for this is the city has been allowed to grow at a phenomenal rate WITHOUT competent management of infrastructure. And here, council are approving around 200 dwellings with access to be via an already overloaded network. And what makes this even worse, they turn down a second access way because it is to expensive!
Definition of insanity is often said to be, keep doing the same thing over & over, expecting a different result. SO, Keep building... keep building... keep building... maybe the roads will fix themselves and not get clogged up!
Without improved access to this whole area, this plan truly is pure insanity.
Leadership !!!
Posted on 29-05-2025 15:51 | By Parkmore
We have a mayor who appears to be totally out of his depth... It will only get worse...
And so....
Posted on 29-05-2025 18:52 | By Batch
To anyone who thinks a covenant is robust and water tight think again..."The alternative was to use a Public Works Act acquisition or High Court process to change the covenant"
..."Council strategy, growth and governance general manager Christine Jones said the council paid $2.33 million for the two properties but this would be paid back by the developer..."
Well Christine please make sure this 2.33m when paid back is put towards the large rate increase for ratepayers it might just make a wee reduced difference instead of the 12%.
Surprisingly
Posted on 31-05-2025 13:32 | By Kancho
I didn't know we had growth management as well as Smartgrowth that's been around years. Surprised as I don't think it's worked at all well. I can't understand something like a wall board factory in South Tauranga and the truck movements from the port through the city. Nor these large subdivisions just squished in to make traffic some of if not the worst in the country. The Tauranga we all loved slowly becoming difficult and expensive to live in. Council talk of growth as a wonderful thing but the results of it all not so enjoyable. A friend recently returned from overseas to come and live here again but is now quite unsure as it's so much changed in the last ten years. I think his skills will go elsewhere if he ever returns to NZ
Welcome to Tauranga...
Posted on 04-06-2025 13:35 | By morepork
... Now go Home!" Reading the article and the posts, there are some disturbing things that emerge:
1. A covenant is not worth the paper its written on, if the Council/Developers want the land.
2. SOMEBODY thinks we need to keep building houses. Probably somebody who makes a great deal of money from building houses. What happened to the concept of being "full up"? What about potential residents who really want to live here, building their own house at their own cost?
3. Council know that better access is needed for this development, but they can't afford to provide it. Shift responsibility to the developers. Sounds fair to me. Why grant permit for development when you KNOW that it is going to cause intolerable chaos on already over-trafficked road arteries?
The whole concept of developing subdivisions should be dependent on proper roading and infrastructure planning, otherwise... no permit.
Food for thought
Posted on 06-06-2025 09:43 | By k Smith
This development and any future developments will always add an impact to Tauranga peak hours traffic. TCC know this of course so they can put a peak hour traffic toll to catch more money. So no good access to free the flow to improve their toll taking. Ooops stealing.
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