The City Plan lists future urban growth areas through Urban Growth Plans.

As well as designating growth areas, the plans specify infrastructure requirements – like reserves and roads – for each growth area to ensure growth demands are met and the land is developed as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Tauranga City Council offices. Photo: file.

These requirements are consistent with the corresponding Structure Plans within the TCC's Development Contributions Policy. In addition to infrastructure, the UGPs also identify areas that are subject to specific yield requirements.

Meeting on Thursday, the TCC agenda's first issue was a wrinkle in the rules, which allows a developer to build and then subdivide, and sidestep the whole process – an inefficient use of land from the council's point of view. Plan Change 5 seeks to change this.

There are also legal issues created by some specific requirements in certain urban growth plan areas. TCC proposes weeding out the rules from the UGP plans and putting them in the City Plan instead.

Developers are concerned about Hasting Rd, which connects with SH29. When developed, the connection with SH29 will be stopped and access will be through The Lakes or onto Pyes Pa Rd.

The argument is over who does what when. The developer wants the council to secure the land for the roadway. The council doesn't agree, saying it's a matter to be resolved between private landowners and the subdivision won't be approved until this is done.

Another submitter wants to tie the council to provide what is identified in the Urban Growth Plans. The council doesn't want to.

Policy Planner James Danby acknowledges 'that the relationship between the rule and map is not as clear as it should be” – and suggests changing the rule.

Kennedy Rd is also an issue. It is described as a collector road, but it can never be made 13 metres wide, which is the requirement.

So it will be a collector road in function, but not design. On the narrow bits it will be without on-street parking, cycle lanes and a pedestrian footpath.

Another issue to be dealt with is the Tauranga City Plan completely overlooking building demolition in the central city as a permitted activity.

This issue (Plan change 6) was identified when city centre zone property owners, who applied for building demolition, found the existing plan rules don't allow for it.

Other minor changes are also required to the definitions of ‘building' and ‘business activity'.

The council also has to sort out current confusion over the definition of places of assembly, which blur the definition between community events and business activities.

Led by independent chairman Alan Watson, the commissioners – TCC councillors Bev Edlin and Bill Grainger – are expected to deliver their findings in about three weeks.