Greenbelt plans rile residents

Barry Coghlan (right) and Brett Noble at a neighbourhood get-together to save Avenues land from being sold to developers. Photo / John Cousins

AN influential Avenues neighbourhood is on the warpath against a Tauranga City Council plan to sell off a greenbelt bordering Takitimu Drive.

Nearly 50 residents gathered on a threatened 2200sq m block of land at the bottom of 4th Ave for a sausage sizzle and pep talk.

It featured an eclectic mix of people with a shared passion to save the land that borders Takitimu Drive from 4th to 8th avenues. An architectural designer, engineer, doctor, and entrepreneur were among them.

Campaign organisers said a leading planning consultant would be offering advice to make sure they were heading along the right track.

"Our homes and lifestyles are at stake, let's put everything on the table," 4th Ave resident Brett Noble said.

A critical 40-day countdown would start once the council gave notice of its intention to sell a 700sq m area of unformed legal road bordering the end of 4th Ave. The unformed road was needed to access a (zoned residential) 1500sq m block.

Offer-back provisions under the Public Works Act were under way on the rest of the parcels of land bordering 5th, 6th and 8th avenues.

Fourth Ave resident Andrew von Dadelszen was told a buyer of the land would have the right to build to 9m, but could go higher.

Fifth Ave engineer Barry Coghlan said he got different answers on the zoning of the land for each council site he searched. Each town planning document he found did not have a date to allow a paper trail.

Another major concern was the extent to which the council had consulted on its 2012 plans to sell the land. Mr von Dadelszen said councillors would only have seen the land on a plan. "They never came here. All they are interested in is the dollars - they have no understanding."

Architectural designer Brendon Gordon said changing reserve land to a residential zoning meant the council would have to show the effects were less than minor and residents would need to show how much they would be affected.