The $400 million retirement village The Pitau under construction in Mount Maunganui. Photo / RNZ
By Libby Kirkby-McLeod of RNZ
A new retirement village in Mount Maunganui is upsetting neighbours and drawing attention to fast-tracking legislation.
The development was last month given the go-ahead by the Covid-19 recovery (fast-track consenting) panel.
The Pitau is a $400 million, five and six-storey retirement development nestled between views of Mount Maunganui beach on one side and the shopping village on the other.
However, surrounding it is an ordinary suburban area of one or two-storey houses and baches.
Barry Brown, a spokesman for the neighbours, said it was his feeling the project should never have gone through the fast-tracking process.
“This particular project in my view does not achieve those Covid purposes because by and large, the country got through Covid a lot better than was anticipated when that legislation was put in place,” Brown said.
The purpose of the Covid-19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Act 2020 was “to urgently promote employment to support New Zealand’s recovery from the economic and social impacts of Covid-19 and to support the certainty of ongoing investment across New Zealand, while continuing to promote the sustainable management of natural and physical resources”.
The Pitau development was referred to the Covid-19 recovery (fast-track consenting) panel by the then-Minister for the Environment David Parker on July 7 last year.
This was a day before the Covid-19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Act 2020 was revoked, on July 8.
RNZ asked to speak to Parker about why he thought The Pitau was suitable for fast-tracking at such a late stage.
In a statement, he said applications for referral were able to be made and considered until the act expired.
“I don’t recall the details of this or other applications for referral. The substance of decisions to approve or decline the application for consent was for the independent decision-making panel, not minister,” Parker said.
Brown said this wasn’t a case of people not wanting development in their backyards.
“This is not nimby-ism (not in my backyard), it’s very easy and convenient for people to say ‘these are nimbys’. They [the neighbours] agreed to a retirement facility being established on the site,” Brown said.
What has upset neighbours is the height that has been allowed for the village, which they said would absolutely dominate the neighbourhood, shade other houses, and diminish people’s privacy.
One of the reasons given by the panel for allowing The Pitau to build five and six storeys high is Plan Change 33, which will allow more Mount Maunganui buildings to reach a height of 22m before needing resource consent.
Jono Perkins, of development management company Property Office, supported the plan change and encouraged the local community to look to the future.
He thought The Pitau would be a good development.
“It’s a big scale compared to what’s there currently, and I can totally understand if you lived around there you might feel slightly uncomfortable about that,” Perkins said.
However, he thought it was important that Tauranga did not get left behind as a city because of under-investment.
“We actually should race ahead as a world-class beachside town, and this kind of development is going to take us there,” Perkins said.
Because of the fast-tracking, residents are nearly powerless to do anything about the development.
“They just feel that they have been ridden roughshod over, in terms of the process and in terms of the outcome,” Brown said.
The Pitau is being developed by Sanderson Group, which said it was thrilled to have received a successful decision.
“The Pitau stands as the pinnacle of my lifelong dedication to defining luxury retirement living and aged care in New Zealand,” said Fraser Sanderson, chairman and founder of Sanderson Group.
Sanderson Group said the development would represent an economic boost to Tauranga, generating over 300 jobs during construction and creating 130 ongoing jobs on completion.
The project will also contribute 220 new dwellings to Tauranga, helping to address the city’s housing shortfall of 5000 to 6000 homes.
— RNZ