A proposed plan change that could see local shops become town centres with six storey buildings is out for consultation.

Tauranga City Council is seeking feedback on Proposed Plan Change 33 – Enabling Housing Supply, that modifies the rules around what people can do on their property.

It also enables greater density in certain areas around Tauranga.

The plan change is in response to the Government's changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that allows for greater intensification in urban areas.

To better understand the plan change and what it means for Tauranga, Local Democracy Reporting sat down with Tauranga City Council city planning team leader Janine Speedy.

She says the proposed intensification areas would enable greater height through a resource consent process.

This is to meet the council's requirements in the National Policy Statement on Urban Development, she says.

'Council must increase height and what we call density,” says Speedy.

'So, more houses in locations that are within identified commercial areas and surrounding commercial [areas], within what we call a walkable catchment.”

Under the plan change Bayfair/Arataki, Bethlehem, Pāpāmoa Plaza/ Fashion Island and the future town centre in Wairakei Pāpāmoa would become 'Town Centres” with permitted building heights of six storeys or 21 metres within the walkable catchment of 800 metres.

The council identified the commercial area of Tweed Street in Mount Maunganui, Golden Sands in Pāpāmoa and Pyes Pā as 'Local Centres” that allow four storey buildings within a walkable catchment of 400 metres.

Through the Te Papa Spatial Plan, building heights of up to 8 stories would be permitted in Tauranga's cental city, Greerton, Gate Pa and the commercial area of Fraser Street, within a 1500 metre catchment for the CBD, and 800m for the other areas.

As part of the Ōtūmoetai Spatial Plan Cherrywood, Brookfield and the southern side of Bureta four to six storey buildings would be enabled within 400 to 800 metres.

The walkable catchment is based off formed footpaths rather than a radius from the area.

The rules for Mount Maunganui's mainstreet commercial area remain the same under the plan change.

Tauranga City Council city planning team leader Janine Speedy says the changes are 'quite far reaching for Tauranga”. Photo: Supplied.

'The aim is to enable those apartments or intensification, but make sure that that development looks good and is having really good outcomes on the ground,” says Speedy.

The other component of Proposed Plan Change 33 applies to all of Tauranga's residential zones.

To comply with the legislation, buildings of up to three stories (11m) and having three dwellings on a site would be a permitted activity and not require resource consent.

There would also be changes to the overshadowing rules and setback from the street would change from 3 metres to 1.5 metres, with boundary setback changing to 1 metre from 1.5 metres.

This would enable more medium density townhouses and duplexes to be built right across the city, says Speedy.

'It's about enabling housing choice. So, it's about providing greater opportunities for people to provide for housing on their properties.

'It's about providing for a range of housing types.”

Speedy says the change does not affect current covenants or significant ecological areas, but the changes are 'quite far reaching for Tauranga”.

She says building consent would still be required and other parts of the city plan still applied.

The transformation would be gradual, and the proposed plan change provided for the future, says Speedy.

'Change will happen over time. It's not going to happen overnight.

'It will be a gradual change as people choose to redevelop the site or their own home or have a second dwelling, so it really is up to the landowner.

'It's nothing that a resident must do now.”

Under the proposed plan changes the rules stay the same for Mount Maunganui's main commercial area. File photo / SunLive.

To enable Proposed Plan Change 33 the council had to revoke Plan Change 26 Housing Choice, which had the same objective but applied to a smaller area of the city.

Plan Change 26 was notified in 2020 and put out for public submission. But with the Government's amendments to the RMA, that took effect in December 2021, council decided 'the best option” was to withdraw PC26 and notify PPC33.

'The requirements of central government affect more areas of the city, but also the rules are quite different,” says Speedy.

She says a lot of the work done for PC26 was brought into PPC33 and the council took into account the feedback it received through PC26 submissions.

The city planner wants to assure people the council was there to provide support to those wanting to submit or needing more information.

'We are proposing quite significant changes to meet that legislative requirement.

'It is quite technical and there is a lot of information, so council are available to help.”

A 'Friend of the Submitter”, an independent planner provided for free by the Ministry for the Environment, is available to help people wanting to submit and there is information about the plan change on the council website.

People could also call or email the council and staff were happy to meet in person as well, says Speedy.

The council sent letters to all the residents that would be affected by the PPC33 as well.

The submission period is open and runs until September 23.

How to find out more about Proposed Plan Change 33

Visit: www.tauranga.govt.nz and search Proposed Plan Change 33

Call the council: 07 577 7000

Email the planning team: city.plan@tauranga.govt.nz

For the 'Friend of the Submitter” email: PlanChange33@resourceplanning.nz

Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.