Developers at wits' end over costs and red tape

Property developer Bob Thorne says he is reluctant to do another subdivision in the city due to the huge delays and costs created by the current Resource Management Act. Photo / John Borren

Prominent Tauranga property developer Bob Thorne says he is likely to quit building subdivisions in the city despite the Government's push to reform the Resource Management Act later this year to stop costly delays and bring houses to the market faster.

Housing and Building Minister Nick Smith told the Bay of Plenty Times it took on average seven years to get a plan change through the RMA, which was "helping nobody but the planners and lawyers". Improvements could be made in the building consenting process to give greater emphasis on housing affordability and reduce huge holding costs to developers that were then passed on to the buyer, Mr Smith said.

"It is no good for the land developer that wants to get on with the project and is not helping the homeowner sitting there frustratingly trying to get access to a new home that is not yet built."

But Mr Thorne said the risk was far too great for the returns and he had encountered significant hold-ups during his Urban Ridge development on the boundary of the "Bethlehem Triangle" - it included 300 houses with a further 60 to be built by the project's conclusion in 2017.

"We'd be reluctant to do any more development in Tauranga quite frankly because of all the delays caused through bureaucracy and all the cost. Consultancy costs are near double what they were five years ago and certainly nothing gets processed any faster."

Tauranga City Council did not normally process consents within time frames set out under the RMA, Mr Thorne said.

CBC Construction director Peter Cooney said it took two years to rezone one of its projects behind the hospital on 17th Ave. It could have been resolved in months but instead cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars in holding costs and legal and planning bills, he said.

The RMA needed more teeth to enable development and shortcut lengthy delays, he said.

"It has created a complex environment where all councils have been allowed to write their own complex district plans that have made developing very difficult and the process cumbersome."

Bluehaven Management chief executive Bill Miller said it took more than seven years to get consent for its Golden Sands development at Papamoa and costs ran into seven figures.

Development generated jobs and "what is more important families earning income and business being created or someone arguing about a planning point or a question on the RMA?" he said.

Houses under construction in the subdivision equated to work for hundreds of people and helped towards growing the economy, Mr Miller said.

The process meant there were very few developers left in Tauranga, he said.

Councils respond

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council has nine staff who deal with consents, said senior communications manager Linda Thompson.

Its figures showed consent applications under the RMA had risen from 304 in 2013 to 376 last year. Every one was processed within statutory time frames, which "means delays have been caused by the applicants rather than the council", she said.

Tauranga City Council communications adviser Marcel Currin said in a written statement the council needed more time and could not provide a comprehensive answer to the same questions asked by the Bay of Plenty Times but would provide statistics this week.

He did, however, offer a general statement from environmental planning manager Natalie Rutland.

"Tauranga City Council actually has a high success rate for meeting statutory time frames. If the council is at fault for a delay the RMA gives us an ability to discount the consent fees.

"Some delays are out of the council's control and there are many times when the clock needs to stop while processing as we ask developers for more information because applications do not adequately address the relevant consenting matters.

"We encourage and actively facilitate pre-application discussions with all our developers, particularly our key large-scale developers to ensure efficient and timely consent processing occurs and delays are avoided," she said.