Developer Bluehaven Holdings Limited has approached Tauranga City Council to consider a special housing area on a site Bluehaven owns along Emerald Shores Drive in Papamoa East. The site is currently vacant, and zoned suburban residential.
Special housing areas are sites in the city that are suitable for new housing and able to be developed fast to increase housing supply. Development of these sites can be fast-tracked under the Housing Accord and Special Housing Areas Act 2013, through an accelerated resource consenting process.
The proposed development would yield 77 single-level detached dwellings, principally two-bedroom. This would be developed under leasehold agreements.
The development would also include a 523m2 reserve extension adjacent to the existing reserve on Wairakei Avenue. This will increase the local purpose reserve area to 1523m2, providing more usable space for the community. There is also a proposed accessway linking to the existing beach access in the northern corner of the site.
More information on this proposal and the context along with details of the developer’s proposal can be found at www.tauranga.govt.nz/SHA as well as information about how residents can give their feedback. Responses must be received by 5pm on Monday, 3 September 2018.
Council needs to decide whether or not to recommend this proposed development as a special housing area to the Minister of Housing and Urban Development. Community views will help inform this decision, which the mayor and councillors will make at a Council meeting before the end of the year.