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.
“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.
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 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 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