Plans to transfrom Tauranga into 'compact city'

Housing in Tauranga. Photo/George Novak

A fundamental change is taking place in Tauranga's growth management planning after the failure to meet housing intensification targets.

SmartGrowth, the joint-council authority set up to control growth and protect arable soils, has a new mantra - for Tauranga to become a "compact city".

Delivering intensification is genuinely difficult.

SmartGrowth strategic advisor Ken Tremaine

Yesterday's meeting of SmartGrowth's implementation committee heard how the focus had shifted to a broader aim of achieving a compact urban form for Tauranga.

"Delivering intensification is genuinely difficult," SmartGrowth strategic advisor Ken Tremaine said.

The new direction followed the rejection by residents of Greerton and Omanu to planned intensification nodes in their neighbourhoods, and resistance from developers to high density housing.

In 2007 SmartGrowth projected that intensification would account for 19 per cent of growth across the whole of the Western Bay and 25 per cent in Tauranga. The actual figure for the last 20 years was 5 to 6 per cent.

Mr Tremaine highlighted research that showed that even with a supportive council planning framework, intensification faced significant challenges including construction costs, difficulty amalgamating sites and the popularity of conventional house and section packages.

His report to the meeting said the new focus was on redevelopment through intensification and infill, and to promote higher density greenfield developments. Housing styles associated with a compact city included apartments, townhouses and duplexes.

Mr Tremaine said intensification did not translate to affordable housing and was expensive compared to existing and new houses.

Research showed the key factors for high density developments to succeeded were to focus on high value/high amenity areas and to achieve sufficient scale and profitability. The need to secure project finance meant net development margins of 15 to 20 per cent were required by developers.

The second phase of the compact city project for 2016-17 will include research on housing preferences, consulting developers on commercially viable locations and a review of city centre planning rules.