Countdown for objections

Submissions on a new Countdown supermarket proposed for Bureta will be restricted to the owners and residents of 105 properties in the immediate area.

Tauranga City Council senior environmental planner Brad Bellamy said letters of notification were yesterday posted to about 200 owners and occupiers as part of the resource consent process.

They would have 20 working days to lodge submissions, which closed on August 31.

Only those served with notification would be able to make a submission on the application by Progressive Enterprises Ltd to build a $20 million supermarket on land currently occupied by the Bureta Park Motor Inn.

Progressive Enterprises sought limited notification on the grounds that public notification was not necessary under the Resource Management Act.

After seeking further information, the council resolved on July 20 to process the consent application on a "notified basis".

However, it widened the number of affected properties from the 97 proposed by Progressive to 105, taking in additional properties along Rushton Ave and Pine Ave and near the intersection of Andrew Place and Vale St.

Progressive Enterprises is proposing a 4620sq m Countdown supermarket, including a 200sq m mezzanine for offices and amenity facilities, a 100sq m plant room and a 420sq m unloading enclosure, together with a 1100sq m block of up to six specialty retail shops and a 250sq m standalone liquor store, which would be occupied by the existing, The Mill Liquorsave.

The supermarket is proposed to be open between 7am and 10pm, seven days a week.

The development, including 256 carparks, would take up around half of the site.

A report prepared for Progressive Enterprises, by Zomac Planning Solutions, said the site was planned to be subdivided into two lots, the other lot being for future residential development.

No further details were provided on what form the residential development would take.

All existing buildings - the motor inn, restaurant and accommodation complex and existing liquor store - would be removed.

However all protected trees on the site would remain.

A 3m high acoustic wall would front Ngatai Rd and along part of the boundary of the proposed residential lots.

Along the Bureta Rd and Vale St frontage the "landscape concept" was to create an avenue of magnolia trees.

The "contemporary and elegant" building breaks the mould of the traditional supermarket design, with light and delicate architectural components, careful use of landscaping street furniture and careful manipulation of building surfaces, the report said.