Plans for a 'billion-dollar' new building at Tauranga Hospital have sparked "real and worrying" shade concerns for neighbours of the facility proposed to be up to 27m tall.
Health authorities have sought approval for the build to address the hospital's seismic issues and help it cope with the fast-growing population it serves.
However, those living next door to the site fear they will be "left in the darkness" due to excessive shadowing created by the seven or eight-storey building.
The Ministry of Health, working with Hauora a Toi Bay of Plenty - formerly Bay of Plenty District Health Board - sought permission from Tauranga City Council to alter the existing designation for the site. This was effectively asking to change the hospital's building height restrictions.
It also sought to replace the hospital's design rules and vary conditions for on-site car parking.
At an independent commissioner hearing into the application at the city council yesterday, the ministry was represented by Hauora a Toi.
Hauora a Toi Bay executive director of development and commercial services Jeff Hodson told independent hearings commissioner Rob van Voorthuysen the latest date it would be able to start on the new build would be 2028.
However, "It would be preferable to start earlier as it's a billion-dollar build you can only spend x amount of dollars per annum," Hodson said.
The existing hospital needs to be either upgraded or get a new clinical services block and evacuate its earthquake-prone buildings before 2034.
The proposed plans for the hospital site between 17th Ave and 21st Ave were broken down into four areas of varying heights: Area A - the main existing hospital area and car park at 27m, Area B - the main Clarke St and 17th Ave area at 9m, Area C - the area near Clarke Rd and 21st Ave at 9m, and Area D - the area near 21st Ave and Cameron Rd at 15m.
Hauora a Toi sent 239 notices to people it considered to be affected by the potential build but only three submissions were received by the city council in response - one in support and two against, the latter was concerned with overshadowing.
At the hearing, 21st Ave resident Russell Slade provided the commissioner with photos of his home.
"As you can see, I have plenty of sunlight coming through my house and I grow veges and all of that."
"If the sun was to be taken away from my place, it would go back to cold and darkness. I wouldn't be able to hang out my washing, it wouldn't dry. My veges wouldn't grow. It would be left in the darkness."
Russell is among those living in Accessible Properties housing in the area.
"Having sunlight would be so important to us for having our vitamin D and everything else that goes with having a house. It would make my life a misery if that was to disappear," he said.
"My wellbeing and mental [health] would turn to rack and ruin," he said.
Russell's mother Jennifer Slade spoke in support of her son, admitting to being "a bit scathing" in her original submission but said her concern for Russell and other residents were "real and worrying".
However, she also spoke of having met with a Beca consultant Keith Frentz, who she said was sympathetic and offered to create a 6m setback from the boundary in a bid to mitigate the shading issue. The original setback was expected to be 2.5m.
She said she was grateful for the gesture despite her feeling the proposed build was likely "going to go ahead anyway".
"We just want the best deal that we can get for the likes of Russell with shading and shadowing, especially in winter and early spring."
She said she would prefer the hospital development to, for example, a high-rise apartment building that may have a smaller setback.
A sun and shade study as part of the hospital site plans found that in mid-winter, the impact of the building heights proposed would result in about five hours of direct afternoon sunlight a day for residential buildings adjacent to the hospital and about five hours of morning sunlight for Cameron Rd buildings opposite the site.
Ronnie Butt, who owns property opposite the hospital on Cameron Rd, said his biggest concern was whether the proposed heights affecting 21st Ave would also apply to Cameron Rd, and whether these could or would change in the future.
Frentz, who was also speaking on behalf of the ministry, said he hoped he was able to "help a bit" regarding the Slades' concerns about shading.
He also said the design principles would apply to the whole of the hospital site.
In its application, Hauora a Toi stated a key point was that the hospital should be readily identifiable as a hospital from a distance so people could easily access it.
"To do that it will be taller and bigger than buildings in the surrounding area . . . "
The Western Bay of Plenty sub-regional population is expected to balloon from about 194,000 in 2018 to 270,000 by 2048 and 400,000 by 2120.
Hauora a Toi said that in order for it to meet its objectives "and provide appropriate and necessary health care to the Western Bay of Plenty sub-region the health and disability services and infrastructure it provides must also increase and expand".
"Much of this expansion will be at the Tauranga Hospital campus site on Cameron Rd where new building development in line with the predicted population growth is planned for the next 30 years."
It said there would be "minimal effects" on landscape and visual amenity as the site is large enough to absorb future development.
Van Voorthuysen will now consider all submissions and is expected to make a recommendation to Hauora a Toi within 15 days.
Work is already under way on the Tauranga City Plan to provide for increased intensification along the Te Papa peninsula, including the area around the hospital, by increasing the permitted height of buildings in this area to 20m.
The council has also professed its preference to allow for a potential future health facility or hospital in Greerton as part of plans to future-proof the reserve land that currently hosts Tauranga Golf Club, the Tauranga Racecourse, and the Tauranga Equestrian Sports Association.
Consultation on the Greerton Maraawaewae Study ended on August 29 and feedback is expected to be heard in November.
A 7-tonne sculpture by a has been unveiled in Tauranga's Red Square.