A house once located on the boundary line of Tauranga city and Western Bay of Plenty district councils has become caught up in the midst of changes to each district's plans.
Garth and Annette Hoey have lived at their Pyes Pa Rd home for eight years, in a property that once sat on the dividing line for the Western Bay of Plenty and Tauranga districts.
The boundary moved south down the road last year but the sign at the front of the Hoey's home still stands.
"It's a bit like paying for a business class airline ticket but being seated in economy. The rates go up to live 'in the city' but we don't get the full services of the city," Mr Hoey said.
The increasing size of the city has meant Tauranga City Council moved its boundary further south in January last year.
As a result, the Hoey's property did not receive the same lawnmowing service as their neighbours, because of the contract the lawnmowers worked to, Mrs Hoey said.
The couple are not too worried whether their grass verge gets a regular trimming but they are perplexed why Tauranga City Council won't allow them the opportunity to develop their property.
"We can't subdivide under city rules for another couple of years," Mrs Hoey said. It turns out that the couple's home, at the intersection with Joyce Rd, still comes under the Western Bay of Plenty District Plan - despite Tauranga City Council governing the area.
"Before they moved the boundary we paid our rates to Western Bay of Plenty but paid for our water to the city."
Now all bills are paid to Tauranga City Council.
Mrs Hoey said when they moved there they knew the "city would come up and meet us". The new boundary line sits at Tauranga Crematorium.
The transition from the Western Bay district plan to Tauranga city plan is slow though.
Nick Logan, environment senior planner for Tauranga City Council, said the process could take years because everything needed to be considered and many submissions had to be reviewed.
"Just because the boundary has changed, does not mean the plans have," he said.
Mr Logan said the option to subdivide was there for the Hoeys but it was not recommended, as the couple would need to adhere to the Western Bay's resource consent conditions - which would change once the Tauranga city plan took over in a couple of years.
Mr Logan said the it was unfortunate the Hoeys were caught in between the plans.
Line drawn at boundary change
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