It will unlock a series of actions that developers have been told would culminate in the opening of a new primary school for the first term of 2018.
Katrina Casey from the Ministry said significant growth was projected for Pyes Pa for the next five to 10 years. Their focus had been on planning the application to designate the Kennedy Rd site, with details such as the timing, size and design yet to be determined.
The Bay of Plenty Times Weekend understood that once the site was designated, a community-based establishment board would be set up to run the design and build process, with tenders called and site works due to begin by early 2017.
Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby congratulated the Ministry for being ahead of the game. The Government was climbing on board Western Bay's growth management initiatives. He said the key thing was to ensure there was a big enough supply of land to avoid the massive price increases that have plagued Auckland.
Pyes Pa School principal Michelle Thurlow said the impact of the new school on the potential growth of their roll was a concern and it was something they would be looking at.
Some of its 160 children came from further down the road. She was confident those students would continue to attend once the new school opened because Pyes Pa School was their preferred school. The rural alternative school did not have a zoning and was open to any students.
The principal of New Zealand's biggest primary school south of Auckland, Greenpark School's Graeme Lind, said it would be naive to believe the new school would have no impact because Pyes Pa and The Lakes was in the school's zone.
However, judging by what has happened at Papamoa, he did not expect it would impact greatly on Greenpark which had a roll of 860 children. The new school would attract new families but he expected most students from Pyes Pa and the Lakes would stick with Greenpark.
Scott Adams said that since Carrus Corp took control of the 2080-lot Lakes subdivision in April 2012, they had sold 520 lots. They have sold 120 of the first 150-lot release of stage three and were about to release another 200 lots onto the market.
He said there had been a spike in inquiries during the last six months. Sixty-five per cent of the 4000 website hits last month were from Aucklanders. Sales had been to a real spread of people, from first-home buyers to empty nesters and retirees.
Mr Adams said the new school would be the catalyst for joining up Kennedy Rd. The old Pyes Pa end of Kennedy Rd would have to be upgraded to become a collector road before the school opened.
Peter Cooney of Classic Builders said they bought the former Kennedy Rd orchard owned by Matai Pacific three months ago. Construction of the first 50-lot subdivision, Sierra Heights, would be under way in September.
"The market is very strong and first home buyers are out in force. We sold three in the first couple of days," he said. He expected a strong demand from families.
Pyes Pa resident Larry Baldock said the Ministry of Education had owned the land for many years in anticipation of the population growth. "Pyes Pa and Papamoa are Tauranga's two growth areas, there's no doubt about that."
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