Developers wanting to shave the top off the Gargan Road Plateau at Tauriko are going to a hearing at Tauranga City Council on Tuesday seeking resource consent for the expanded earthworks.

The project will increase the Tauriko Business Estate's area available for development on the plateau and involves moving about one million cubic metres of earth over three to five years.

From this.

To this.

Both the earthworks and revised industrial land use layout require resource consent under the District Plan.

A separate application has been made to Bay of Plenty Regional Council for earthworks consent and associated discharges for stormwater and water takes for dust suppression under the Regional Water and Land Plan.

The area of developable industrial land within Stage 2A at Tauriko through additional excavation of the Gargan Road Plateau will increase the area of Stage 2A by about 3.46ha. The developable area of Stage 2B will decrease by 1.73ha.

The additional developable land will be created by large scale earthworks to remove further areas of the raised landform referred to as the Gargan Road Plateau, resulting in additional land at a lower level.

The development and use of land will be subject to the same land use control framework that already applies in the Tauriko Business Estate.

The proposed earthworks and quarrying activity is a restricted discretionary activity as it exceeds the area limit of 1ha and volume limit of 5,000m³. Temporary stormwater discharge consent for earthworks is a discretionary activity, as is taking water for dust control.

This additional flat land will be used for industrial activities in the same manner as adjacent developed areas, says the applicant.

Development within the additional Stage 2A area will be subject to the same land use and building controls that apply to other industrial development at Tauriko. Mitigation of effects will be provided through specific rules and compliance with a revised Outline Development Plan.

The revised development layout will also provide for a collector road to be constructed between the escarpment and the Kopurererua Stream, which will provide an alternative access to Stage 3C. No consent is being sought for Stage 3C development at this stage.

The excavation will be carried out as a single worked face, moving progressively toward the point of the finished contour.

Developers want to lower the Gargan Road plateau. Picture: Boffa Miskel.

The excavation will commence in the area nearest the stream to allow the completion of finished ground levels for road construction. This will also enable the planting of the proposed Visual Mitigation Buffer, allowing establishment of screening planting ahead of industrial land development.

The topsoil and ash overburden will be removed first by motor scraper and trucks for transport to the dump site. The pumice underlay will be removed by excavator and loaded directly onto trucks.

The level areas resulting from the works will be progressively restored through top-soiling and regrassing.

The new escarpment face will be re-vegetated in native ground covers and shrubs with interspersed native and exotic specimen trees. This will occur on the completion of the excavation.

Buildings on the top of the plateau will be limited to 12m in height, with a large 20 metre set back from the edge by to allow room for the ‘visual mitigation buffer' plantings.