He said Auckland's growth fed the growth of towns in the rest of the northern North Island, through factors such as Aucklanders holidaying and retiring close to home.
Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby said the growth would have come in cycles.
"Tauranga historically has had a seven-year cycle of modest growth through to phenomenal growth, then it comes back again.
"It looks like we are in a reasonably stable period now of consistent growth."
However, the mayor said the council and other agencies were planning for more growth and expected Tauranga's population to reach almost a quarter of million by 2065. The current population is 117,600.
Traditionally known as New Zealand's retiree capital, measures were now being put in place to keep the population in Tauranga balanced. The new university campus on Durham St would help that, Mr Crosby said. "That is designed to specially create a learning opportunity for people we had been losing, traditionally from 18 to 24."
People in their mid 30s were also bringing their families to Tauranga, he said.
Priority One projects manager Annie Hill said they had been monitoring the city's growth from 1996 and she was not surprised Tauranga had been the fastest growing town in New Zealand.
"From 1996 to 2013, Tauranga City had 48 per cent growth, while the Western Bay of Plenty had 24.9 per cent growth," she said.
"We did have a slowdown when the global financial crisis hit, we saw our SmartGrowth projections slow down considerably, but the information we have had from the last census shows we are picking up again.
"The business community is growing, businesses are growing, jobs are growing, so that is a huge attraction for people coming here."
SmartGrowth implementation manager Duncan Tindall said how Tauranga dealt with its growth was important, such as investing in transport networks like the Eastern Link, which opens in about a month.
"We have further work which will look at transportation infrastructure but also other infrastructure is needed for that growth."
City ticks all the boxes for family
Sam Marshall, 42, moved his family from Brisbane back to New Zealand in May 2014.
He and his wife, originally from Auckland, sold their business and made the move to Tauranga with their four children.
"A really good mate of mine was raving about Tauranga, so we decided to have a look. My wife came back six months before to have a look and we got very excited about it and had been amazed at how much it had grown."
Now director of business development at Key Research Group, Mr Marshall said the job he had in the Bay was incredibly rewarding and the family was not prepared to go back to Auckland because "we wanted the kids to have a really Kiwi experience.
I guess when we looked at Tauranga there were a few things that ticked all the boxes, it seemed buoyant economically, Bethlehem College was similar to the school the kids were at in Brisbane, and thirdly what we loved about Tauranga was it had the best of both worlds. Really nice beaches which reminded us of the Sunshine Coast, it was close to the mountains and had beautiful scenery, plus close to family and grandparents with a good climate."
Sunshine and a better paying job were also reasons enough to make the Kontzes pack up in Palmerston North and move to Tauranga two years ago. Esther Kontze, a mother of two in her 40s, is originally from Brazil and said she was drawn to the warmth that the North Island coastal town offered.
"Tauranga is about four degrees warmer than Palmy, and I'm happy to go where the sunshine is," she said.
Mrs Kontze said her New Zealander husband, Martin Kontze, who works in the plastic industry, also found a job with a much higher pay.
Her neighbour also recently moved to the city from Auckland, she said, mainly for the cheaper housing and better quality of life.
" ... it doesn't take too long to get home to the family from work," said Mrs Kontze.
