Council-owned land to be sold for development

Zespri could be one of the bidders for the property it leases from the Tauranga City Council on Maunganui Rd. Photo/File

Half of the 1.6ha council-owned block in Maunganui Rd is to be offered for sale or lease in a deal to carve millions off the council debt.

The council today decided to limit the sale to the area of land already leased to Zespri, bowing to public pressure not to force the Mount Maunganui Library and neighbouring Plunket preschool to shift.

It also responded to overwhelming public feedback by opting to keep the 3500sq m of parkland that was currently at the southern end of the block, next to the former Mount Borough Council offices leased to Zespri.

The council will be going to the market seeking offers to buy or lease 8000 square metres of the block. It will see the parkland relocated to alongside the preschool once the borough offices were demolished.

The rateable land value of the site to be sold was about $3 million.

In other decisions, the council has joined 10 other councils representing 60 per cent of New Zealand's population in encouraging the Government to conclude negotiations on the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership in a way that provides "net positive benefits for Tauranga and the rest of the country".