Roofing rules cause overheating

Tauriko Business Estate. PHOTO/ANDREW WARNER

Buildings are overheating at the Tauriko Business Estate because anti-glare factory roofs are absorbing too much heat.

The problem, created by Tauranga City Council planning rules to avoid glare impacting on householders living at The Lakes, surfaced at a meeting of the council today.

The current rule required roofs to be painted in darker colours so that their "reflectance value" was no more than minor and did not exceed 35 per cent.

Feedback from developers was that complying with the rule had resulted in a roof colour that held excessive heat and caused buildings to overheat.

Councillors backed the review of the percentage of reflection, but not at the expense of neighbouring residential areas. The aim of the review of the rule was that new buildings would not hold excessive heat.

Councillors were told that the overheating caused by the 35 per cent limit had raised a number of consent issues.

Another decision today saw the council agree to go out for public consultation on the review of its mobile shops policy.

Changes included making Memorial Park a tendered licence site and increasing the number of mobile shops from two to three. It currently operated on a first-come basis and competition for space had caused conflict between traders.

Mobile shops allowed to trade at Welcome Bay's Waipuna Park and on Papamoa Domain were proposed to double from one to two.

Increasing traffic volumes and narrow street berms along two stretches of Maranui St and Papamoa Beach Rd had led to a proposal to outlaw mobile traders from these areas. It would impact on Maranui St and Papamoa Beach Rd from Sunrise Ave to 30m east of Coast Boulevard.

The bans were motivated by concerns about road safety and the potential for mobile shops to impact on the access and safety of people using dune boardwalks to reach the beach.

Mobile shop owners would be banned from any reserve that did not have a formed carpark. Other proposed prohibited areas were the Bethlehem Hall site, Cambridge Park, Matua Park, May St Reserve, the Scout Reserve, Welcome Bay Hall site and the Welcome Bay Scout Hall site.

The draft policy also made a clear distinction between mobile shops trading as part of a council-approved market or event and those trading independently.

Mobile shops not trading as part of a market or event would require a mobile shop licence whereas the others were covered by the council approval obtained by the event or market organisers.