Reticulate Wainui, revitalise CBD . . .

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

The people of Tairāwhiti are being asked for their thoughts on where housing growth should happen in and around Gisborne city. It is a pity we weren't doing this five years ago, but better late than never.

Houses are being built in Gisborne at the fastest pace in over a decade (but not yet at the rate of the mid-2000s), with a big boost provided by Kainga Ora along with community and iwi providers stepping in to meet demand in a housing crisis.

A housing assessment has estimated there is latent demand for 750 houses now, that 1510 more houses will be needed in the Gisborne urban area by 2030, and 3940 by 2050.

The council has drafted four options for where housing growth could occur in Gisborne and is now holding workshops on them, with consultation on a 30-year Future Development Strategy to take place in the first half of next year.

The least costly option is “Western Growth”, with new residential areas on fields to the west of the city centre — extending outwards from the 187-section Oakview development — and a limited amount of intensification in the existing city footprint.

The next least costly option is “Eastern Growth”, with houses built in the fields to the east of Kaiti, medium density housing in Wainui, higher density housing in and around the CBD, and mixed use and higher density development-medium density intensification based on accessibility to the CBD.

An immediate issue in weighing these two options is that one relies on reticulating Wainui and the other doesn't, but the beach-side suburb needs to be reticulated irrespective of this strategy. There should not be any consideration that Wainui not be reticulated for wastewater (at least) in the near to medium future.

A “Dispersed Growth” option that includes a CBD focus for higher-density housing, intensification in existing areas and building on some fields to both the east and west of the city sounds appealing, but is the most costly option due to infrastructure costs across the city.

The second most costly option, due to the infrastructure upgrades required, is “Intensification”. This involves keeping the existing city footprint and encouraging CBD revitalisation, medium-density housing throughout the city centre and higher density in the CBD, plus significant medium-density housing in Kaiti.

Like reticulating Wainui, efforts to revitalise the CBD should be non-negotiable as part of this planning for future development.