Request for Development Land in the Palm Springs Subdivision to be Granted Special Housing Area Status under the Tauranga Housing Accord

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1 Request for Development Land in the Palm Springs Subdivision to be Granted Special Housing Area Status under the Tauranga Housing Accord Development Proposal Overview of proposal This request is lodged on behalf of Hawridge Developments Ltd (HDL). Hawridge Developments Ltd hold the development rights to a significant portion of the Wairakei Urban Growth Area. HDL are currently actively developing the area shown on the attached locality plan for residential housing known as Palm Springs. The development of Stages 8-10 has largely been completed. Work is also well underway on the construction of Stage 11 which is expected to be completed by early In addition to these stages HDL has obtained the consents required for Stage 12 and currently has subdivision consent applications with Tauranga City Council for Stages 12B and 13. Further stages will be consented in 2016 and subsequently developed, likely extending towards Te Okuroa Drive with the proposed area linking with residential development on the northern side of Te Okuroa Drive once these areas have been developed. To ensure that sufficient land is available to enable continued residential development in an expedient manner, HDL are proposing to have hectares of land currently zoned Papamoa East Employment classified as a Special Housing Area. The area is identified on the attached Plan. The area adjoins land already classified as a Special Housing Area but separated by the designation for Te Okuroa Drive. Due to the high level of demand and connectivity with adjacent development, HDL have identified the subject site as being suitable for a Special Sousing Area. It is intended that this area would be developed using a similar subdivision methodology as used across the wider block. The proposal does not include specific building designs or layouts. These as applicable would be considered in any subsequent resource consent applications under the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Act Legislative / Tauranga City Plan Constraints Under the requirements of the Operative City Plan, it would be difficult for HDL to obtain any consents for the further development of Palm Springs as the trigger threshold of 1000 consented lots has been reached (between the consents issued for the Golden Sands Development and the Palm Springs Development). This trigger relates to infrastructure capacity in the roading and water networks. Tauranga City engineers have advised that the infrastructure capacity of these networks is actually much greater, especially when the time delay between sections being titled and houses actually being built on the Lots is taken into account. The subject area is subject to Plan Change 2 Wairakei Urban Growth Area, which was notified on 5 October Submissions and further submissions have been made and closed. No hearing has

2 occurred. Pursuant to s10(4) of the 1st schedule of the Resource Management Act 1991, the Council has, at the latest, 2 years to give decisions on submissions from the date of notification of the Plan Change. This means that decisions should have been issued by 5 October No formal notice has been received from Council in regard to Plan Change 2. To all intents and purposes Plan Change 2 appears to be defunct, and little, if any, weighting can be placed upon it. Council staff have confirmed very recently that the Council is intending to withdraw the Plan Change in early 2016 with a replacement Plan Change to be developed in due course. Considering the time required to undertake a plan change it will be a significant period of time to progress this to an operative status. Accordingly, the subject area is impeded for further residential development under the current City Plan and the only way that some certainty for future developments, in the short term, to be able to progress is through the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Act 2013 (HASHAA). The HASHAA legislation will be repealed in 16 September 2016 and therefore the confirmation of the subject area as a Special Housing Area is required as soon as possible. Site Location Address: 61 Palm Springs Boulevard. Legal Description: Lot 501 DP (part). A new legal description of Sec. 17 SO will come into existence for the subject area (being an area of severance) when Te Okuroa Drive is gazetted The subject site consists of ha and forms part of the balance area (currently approximately 82 ha in area). The area is located between the Te Okuroa Drive designation and the Tauranga Eastern Link (TEL). The balance area of land is for the most part currently designated as a Special Housing Area.

3 Figure 1 General Locality - Proposed Special Housing Area in Red The developer The developer is Hawridge Developments Limited (HDL). Hawridge Developments have been actively developing land particularly in the Papamoa area since the 1990s. Developments include Royal Palm Beach Estate, the Palm Springs Development on both sides of the Wairakei Stream and Palm Beach Plaza. Underlying City Plan Zone The site is within Wairakei Urban Growth Area as shown on City Plan Map SP15. The area that is being sought to be a Special Housing Area is currently zoned Papamoa East Employment. The site adjoins the current Palm Springs Special Housing Areas 1 and B. The subject area is shown overlain on the following Tauranga City Planning Map. Figure 2 Proposed Special Housing Area overlain on City Plan Zoning Map Number of Dwellings and Density A minimum residential yield of 12 lots per hectare of nett developable land is proposed. This equates to approximately 50 residential dwelling units. The section sizes will continue to be similar to that developed / consented within stages These can range between m 2 on the builders development blocks, the standard lots range between around m 2 approximately while infill lots range between m 2 when subdivided.

4 Dwelling Typology HDL are land developers and do not offer builder services or house and land packages. The delivery of residential properties in the wider Palm Springs development has been based on providing a variety of lots as follows: 1) Comprehensive Development Blocks are intended to yield dwellings with minimum 120m 2 (excluding garage) of floor area on sections of less than 475m 2 in size. There are no restrictions or specific requirement on numbers of bedrooms. 2) Subdividable lots intended to yield two dwellings with minimum 120m 2 (excluding garage) of floor area each on infill sections of around 475m 2 in size. There are no restrictions or specific requirement on numbers of bedrooms. 3) Single lot sections are intended to yield dwellings with minimum 140m 2 (excluding garage) of floor area. There are no restrictions or specific requirement on number of bedrooms. The configuration will be dependent on the subdivision layout taking into specific account acoustic treatment of the site to ensure a high level of amenity and to mitigate reverse sensitivity issues regarding the operation of the State Highway. Specific provision will be required for a local purpose stormwater reserve. Figure 3 Indicative General Layout

5 Dwelling Price Points As mentioned above HDL are land developers and do not offer builder services or house and land packages. The price of a dwelling is for the land purchaser to determine as long as the dwelling complies with minimum size requirements and aesthetically fits within the development. Section Price Points Section price ranges would most likely be, from $180,000 for smaller sections in the Builder Development Blocks and Infill lots GST inclusive. The prices for the standard larger lots will start from $230,000 GST inclusive. Customer The target market is a cross section of the community and may include builders, private individuals, first and second home buyers or retirees. Non Residential There is no specific intention to provide land for any other development except associated with residential activities. The other non-residential elements are confined to the continuation of the stormwater mitigation swales required to contain the additional stormwater generated by the development. Height The proposal will continue in general accordance with the current site development controls utilised for Stages These controls include a height limitation of 9.5 metres as a permitted activity. Significant Planning Issues The proposal is effectively to extend the existing Special Housing Area to ensure that the continued roll-out of residential development and associated housing to meet the purposes of the Tauranga Housing Accord. The subject area is within the Wairakei Urban Growth Area and is consistent with the RPS s direction in regard to urban growth management, specifically Objective 23 A compact, well designed and sustainable urban form that effectively and efficiently accommodates the region s urban growth and related policies and methods. The current zoning is Papamoa East Employment. It is noted that other more significant areas of land with the same zoning and in the general vicinity have become Special Housing Areas e.g. Zariba Special Housing Area. The proximity to existing Wairakei Residential zoned land and other Special Housing Areas provides a connection with other residential areas and a more appropriate interface than activities that could be established under the Papamoa East Employment zoning. It is the current Council intention through its initial planning for the Te Tumu Urban Growth Area to provide the lost employment land that would otherwise have been provided on this site within the Te Tumu Urban Growth Area. We understand that the Council is currently working on financial viability assessments for the Te Tumu Area, with the consideration of re-locating employment land from within Wairakei to Te Tumu a key component of this consideration. Structure planning for this new growth area is set to begin in the 2016/17 financial year

6 The most significant constraint is the proximity to the State Highway (TEL) and it will be necessary to provide appropriate mitigation to avoid any reverse sensitivity issues. At the time of resource consent an acoustics design report from a suitably qualified and experienced acoustics expert will be provided to demonstrate appropriate noise mitigation for the development. Initial assessment indicates that this is achievable. Due to the need to provide for acoustic mitigation it is important that any nett developable area excludes land that is required for this purpose. Infrastructure Servicing Transportation A significant potential constraint for the implementation of new housing areas in eastern Papamoa is the capacity of the transportation network. Explicitly, Papamoa Beach Road is recognised as having capacity issues. Further technical assessment of the capacity of Papamoa Beach Road by TCC staff indicates that, with some modest improvements, it could accommodate up to 1,400 completed dwellings in the Palm Springs and Golden Sands subdivisions combined prior to the second road connection to Papamoa East being completed through the extension of Te Okuroa Drive. It is also noted that the TEL project is now operational and this provides improved transportation links in the area. The Council has recently confirmed through the LTP process timing for significant works relating to Te Okuroa Drive. This confirms TCC s timing for Te Okuroa Drive to be connected to the Palm Springs block as being in This will provide a much improved transportation network. It is also noted that in the future other connections will be developed. There has also now been an acceptance that an approved subdivision does not translate to an immediate new demand on roading infrastructure and that in reality there is a considerable lag between subdivision approval and actual occupation of dwellings and subsequent impacts on the roading network. Based on existing workstreams and experience in rolling out developments, the actual effects on the roading network beyond the calculated capacity will not start to occur until after the Te Okuroa Drive connection to Palm Springs has been established. Due to the characteristics of the site being elongated it is proposed to utilise access lots to minimise the number of direct access points onto Te Okuroa Drive. Therefore this Special Housing Area can only proceed when Te Okuroa Drive is constructed. Conceptually this is illustrated on the plan below noting the need for specific acoustic treatment which may affect the eventual layout. A similar concept is likely to apply for comprehensive development block areas.

7 Figure 4 Access Concept Te Okuroa drive Water The analysis supporting the adjacent Palm Springs Special Housing Area carried out by Council confirmed that the water supply network has a capacity for a further 1400 dwellings for the combined Golden Sands and Palm Springs developments before a new water main is required to be supplied through Te Okuroa Drive. The restriction on water supply will only apply until the bulk watermain is provided alongside the construction of Te Okuroa Drive. The expectation is that the bulk main will be available in As above there has also been an acceptance that an approved subdivision does not translate to an immediate new demand on infrastructure and that in reality there is a considerable lag between subdivision approval and actual occupation of dwellings and subsequent impacts on infrastructure requirements such as water supply. Wastewater In regard to the subject area the Wairakei Pump Station and associated infrastructure is programmed under the LTP for construction in two stages being 15/16 and 17/18. This will ensure that adequate provision of wastewater infrastructure will be provided to service the wider development of the area prior to existing capacity issues developing. Internal pump stations are to be installed within the Palm Springs development and wastewater from the employment zone will be reticulated via these pump stations. Stormwater The stormwater reticulation, treatment and retention is required to comply with the requirements of the Papamoa Comprehensive Stormwater Catchment Consent held by Tauranga City. This has recently been changed and requires, amongst other things, for the developments to provide 40% mitigation storage of the stormwater runoff. There are no capacity constraints for the stormwater infrastructure as this can be accommodated in design within the Palm Springs development.

8 Reserves HDL has been delivering reserves progressively as development proceeds in accordance with the Councils Level of Service (LOS) requirements coupled with the recreational value of the Stormwater Management reserve areas. HDL will continue to allocate reserves at the current LOS requirements. Development Timeframes The indicative programme of development is that the proposed SHA will commence actual physical development in 2017/18 depending on the availability of Council infrastructure. This enables subdivision consenting to occur in the latter half of 2016.