Location map - Emerald Shores Drive proposed special housing area in Papamoa.
Location map - Emerald Shores Drive proposed special housing area in Papamoa.
A proposed special housing area development in Papamoa East would create 77 new houses.
Developer Bluehaven Holdings has asked Tauranga City Council to consider a special housing area on a site Bluehaven owns along Emerald Shores Dr.
The site, at 4 Emerald Shores Dr, is currently vacant and zoned suburban residential.
The proposed development would create 77 single-level detached dwellings, mainly two-bedroom homes. This would be developed under leasehold agreements.
The council now needs to decide whether to recommend the proposal to the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Phil Twyford.
"Community views will help inform this decision, which the mayor and councillors will make at a council meeting before the end of the year," the council said in the statement this morning.
Special housing areas are sites which are suitable for new housing and are able to be developed fast to increase housing supply.
Development can be fast-tracked under the Housing Accord and Special Housing Areas Act 2013, through an accelerated resource consenting process.
More information on the proposal and how residents can give their feedback can be found on the council website.
The deadline for responses is 5pm on September 3.
The Bay of Plenty Times has spoken to some nearby residents who were concerned they had not been consulted about the proposal earlier.
Some were also unsure how 77 properties would fit on such a small piece of land that backed on to some of their homes.
The nearby residents were planning to discuss the proposal over the next few days.
