HPUDS needs to be endorsed by all three councils before it can be formally adopted as a joint strategy.
Yesterday Napier councillors were urged to "demonstrate leadership" by adopting HPUDS 2016, and the recommendations made by the joint working group.
Working group representative and committee chairman Tony Jeffery reminded committee members of the "lengthy" process behind the review, and assured them there was a "low risk" of the other councils not signing the document.
Mayor Bill Dalton said he did not think there was much risk the review would not be endorsed, now the councils had spent more time examining the document.
"If we don't have HPUDS there's nothing to stop us using up all our good productive land," he said.
"If we don't approve this you start the whole process again, which has taken five years, you might as well throw the thing out and ignore it."
The risk of not adopting the review meant issues presented during its development would not be addressed, and potentially, that the process of reviewing the strategy would have to restart.
Mr Jeffery said he did not think there was an alternative, as the review was "robust", and another would be undertaken in five years.
A paper before the committee noted the not yet released National Policy Statement on Urban Development Capacity 2016 would require all councils to provide for urban development in the way HPUDS "effectively" did.
Yesterday the committee also agreed to appoint another representative to the working group - with deputy mayor Faye White to join Mr Jeffery.
In late March the 2016 review was taken off the table at a Hastings council meeting after councillors said they had not had enough time to consider and consult on the document.
The protection of soils was one concern, while others said the new councillors - who make up a quarter of the council - had not had the opportunity to thoroughly talk through the issues both among themselves and with stakeholders.
A week later at a regional council meeting, it was agreed to let the strategy "lie on the table" until it could discuss the matter further with the other councils.
Concerns were raised that the strategy did not effectively address the issue of urban development on fertile soils, had a timeframe of 35 years which was too long and did not address issues such as land-banking.