In a summit at Trustpower Baypark today, city leaders approved the plan, with funding commitments to come at a later stage.
It went first before sub-regional partnership Smartgrowth, then to each partner council: Tauranga City, Western Bay District and Bay of Plenty Regional. The approvals were near unanimous.
Next it will go to Wellington to be presented to Cabinet later this month and to Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency board in August as a business case.
Cabinet would also consider becoming a formal part of the Smartgrowth partnership, which would see three minsters join the leadership group with voting rights.
The plan is outlined in the 140-page final report of the Urban Form and Transport Initiative (UFTI), a joint project between Smartgrowth and the agency.
UFTI launched in December 2018 and was expected to cost just under $2.5 million.
It reviewed years of urban development and transport plans and policies, including the Tauranga transport business case rejected by the agency last year.
UFTI used a population estimate that would see Tauranga and the Western Bay home to 400,000 people in 2070.
It came up with a settlement pattern dubbed "connected centres" that would have new communities developed in the east, west and north, focussed along public transport corridors.
Planned greenfield areas in Omokoroa, Tauriko West, Keenan Rd and Te Tumu would be developed over the next 30+ years.
In 15-20 years' time, a new centre and community would start being built in the east near the long-planned Rangiuru Business Park and Paengaroa.
Western expansion into upper Belk, Merrick and Joyce Rds would happen in the long-term - starting in 30+ years - as it would in the north, in Te Puna and Plummers Point.
Where housing settlements and transport networks would be in the Western Bay of 2070. Graphic / UFTI
The move towards higher-density housing would be especially apparent in newly developed areas where the goal would be an average of 30 dwellings per hectare.
Nearly every part of the existing city and district would be touched in some way by housing intensification, but especially the Te Papa peninsular, Otumoetai and surrounding suburbs, and Mount Maunganui and Arataki.
Retaining and creating green public spaces would be vital and there would be more variety in the types of housing people could choose from.
These communities would be connected by a multi-modal transport system, with four high-frequency and dedicated public transport corridors phased in over time.
These would run through the centre, from Tauriko to Mount Maunganui via Cameron Rd, east via Te Maunga and Wairakei/Te Tumu to Paengaroa, west into the Kaimai range via SH36 and Tauriko, and north to Waihi via Takitimu Drive and Bethlehem.
A proposed new addition to the public transport system is a ferry service between the CBD and Mount Maunganui, and Omokoroa. The feasibility of this was under investigation but could happen within three years if it stacked up.
The UFTI final report was expected to become the basis of a joint spatial plan, which was intended to be publicly consulted early next year.
