Greenbelt properties safeguarded

Gail McIntosh

Tauranga City Council has overwhelmingly agreed to retain eight greenbelt properties along Takitimu Drive, despite a plea by physically frail Gail McIntosh for proof of the reasons not to sell.

The council yesterday voted 8-0 with one abstention to reverse the decision of the previous council to sell the parcels of land totalling one hectare, from 4th Ave to 8th Ave.

Applause from Avenues residents in the public gallery greeted the vote, which left Councillor McIntosh as the only member not to back the staff recommendation. Her return to the debating chamber yesterday followed a two-and-a-half month absence while she was treated for cancer.

Her appearance at the meeting was a surprise, after she said last week that drugs she was taking as part of her treatment for lymphoma meant she struggled to get around the house, let alone travel into town for meetings.

Deputy Mayor Kelvin Clout was on leave, while Councillor Catherine Stewart did not participate in the debate after declaring a conflict of interest. She told the Bay of Plenty Times that a relative lived in the Avenues.

Cr McIntosh (pictured) took issue with the wording of the recommendation to retain the properties on the basis that the costs of progressing the sales outweighed the potential benefits.

She urged the council to ask which costs were outweighed by the benefits, saying there was not enough information to prove it.

Cr McIntosh said the recommendation to keep the land was driven by the council's relationship with all sorts of people and not because of values, particularly the land at the bottom of 4th Ave.

Councillor Steve Morris said the 4th Ave properties would potentially have been the more financially viable. The other parcels of land were not attractive given the implications of offer back, the Public Works Act and "certain cultural aspects".

Selling the 4th Ave land had financial implications because of the actions of residents and the staff time needed to respond. Cr Morris said the actions of these neighbours had deprived the wider city of financial returns, although he agreed that the council needed to recognise the views of neighbours and residents before they were deprived of public land.

Mayor Stuart Crosby said they had learned to look at the complexities and processes sooner rather than later in the land sale decision-making process. Councillor John Robson said there were broader issues, including information behind the recommendation that was not contained in the report. "It might be appropriate to place some of them on the record."