In light of this, the possibility of a joint-council workshop was floated by Hastings mayor Lawrence Yule - he had suggested a workshop for his own councillors, but said this could be extended to include all three councils.
Council would need to satisfy their legal position given the amount of work and consultation done on the document, but Mr Yule said if there was concern about the strategy, as there seemed to be, this needed to be addressed.
This was echoed by regional council chairman Rex Graham, who said it was "really important" the council's came together to discuss the issues raised.
He said it would also allow the councils to talk about their own aims and aspirations, and how they intended to meet these.
However, Mr Yule said no decision about the joint workshop would be made until the review came before the Napier City Council - which it is expected to do in mid-April.
Napier mayor Bill Dalton said while this joint workshop was a "distinct possibility", his council was positive about HPUDS.
"I can't pre-empt what my council might say but I think they would be supportive of it," he said, as it was an essential part of protecting Hawke's Bay's fertile soils.
"It would be very disappointing if in any way the wheels fell of HPUDS," he said. "This is not the beginning, this is the end of a long journey."
The council's HPUDS representative, councillor Tony Jeffery, shared concerns around the strategy's impact on productive soils.
These could not keep being compromised for the current housing demand, he said.
"We've come off a low base for this demand," he said. "We don't want to get too carried away by providing a huge surplus of [housing] options on fertile soils."
In late March the review was taken off the table at a Hastings council meeting after councillors said they had not had enough time to consider and consult on the document.
The protection of soils was one concern, while others said the new councillors - who make up a quarter of the council - had not had the opportunity to thoroughly talk through the issues both among themselves and with stakeholders.
A week later at a regional council meeting, it was agreed to let the strategy "lie on the table" until it could discuss the matter further with the other councils.
Concerns were raised that the strategy did not effectively address the issue of urban development on fertile soils, had a timeframe of 35 years which was too long and did not address issues such as 'land-banking