Rotorua council helping to fast-track proposed 280-unit Summerset retirement village

Summerset Group bought the Fairy Springs land last year and plans to build a 280-unit retirement village.

Rotorua’s council is helping to fast-track a proposed $180 million retirement village development that would add 280 units in the north end of the city.

For its first venture in Rotorua, Summerset Group bought a 14.2-hectare section of land in Fairy Springs last year that is currently home to the Rotorua Heritage Farm and 3D Trick Art Gallery.

When it announced the project, Summerset chief executive Scott Scoullar said the village would include villas, cottages and serviced apartments.

“There will also be a village centre with a care centre offering rest home, hospital-level care and recreational amenities.”

Summerset development acting general manager Oliver Boyd told Local Democracy Reporting that it expected to welcome residents from 2026.

“Our serviced apartments and care will be in our village’s centre, the main building, which will also have amenities such as the cafe, gym, library, residents bar and much more. We plan to have a multi-purpose bowling green, resident gardens and other amenities such as a playground on site as well.”

Boyd said the project was in the early stages of planning and development, with the design phase underway in preparation for seeking resource consent.

“We’ll have more to share when we complete our designs.”

It received approval from Environment Minister David Parker to use the Government’s fast-track consenting process, which was set up as part of the Covid-19 recovery.

“We expect to lodge an application with the Environmental Protection Authority later this year,” Boyd said.

Rotorua Lakes Council has been supporting Summerset through the process.

Summerset applied in May this year and the application advised that the project would result in about 1819 full-time jobs over a seven-year design and construction period.

Council community and district development group manager Jean-Paul Gaston said it had been working alongside Summerset since early 2022.

Rotorua Lakes Council community and district development group manager Jean-Paul Gaston. Photo / Laura Smith

The council’s role in the fast-tracking process was to ensure the development could be adequately serviced with water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure.

“We also need to be comfortable that all assets meet the required standard prior to being transferred to council ownership.”

He said it was also supporting Summerset through technical parts of the design phase such as stormwater design, urban design, parks, reserves and roading.

It had established a working group with Summerset and other “critical development partners” that was meeting regularly.

He said the council established a development support function in 2021 aiming to ”be more proactive” in the due diligence phase of the development process, before a resource consent application was lodged.

The council was starting to see the approach pay off with “a significant number of large housing developments” heading for construction.

“This service is available to all developers with applications that exceed 20 houses or lots.”

Reserve revocation for access road possible

The site of the proposed retirement village is near a council reserve off Barnard Rd set aside in 1957 for a future road if needed.

Now, Summerset wants to use it as such to allow for emergency and delivery access to its proposed village.

An agenda for Wednesday’s community and district development committee advised councillors that residents and visitors to the village were expected to use the main access off State Highway 5.

Councillors will consider beginning a process to revoke its reserve status. This would involve public consultation and, if it resulted in revocation, the council would allow Summerset to buy the land at market value.

This was the preferred option for both the council and Summerset.

Laura Smith is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. She previously reported general news for the Otago Daily Times and Southland Express, and has been a journalist for four years.

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