A new industrial sector including 36ha of land west of Hastings is to be created to cater for a projected increase in businesses in the district.
The Hastings District Council will meet today to decide whether it should rezone land on the northern side of Omahu Rd suitable for high profile, dry industries.
The zone being considered for development was a strip starting from an area near the Omahu Rd/Ormond Rd intersection heading west towards Fernhill. An existing industrial strip operated on the other, or southern side, of the road.
It was an area zoned "plains" which meant it could be used for activities such as horticulture, pasture, residential, commercial and industrial uses.
The council's strategic planner Tracey Gray said an application would be made to the Hawke's Bay Regional Council for a permit to discharge stormwater from the proposed site.
It would then have a better idea over what the costs and infrastructure needed to handle stormwater disposal were, and in turn the Hastings council could make a decision on whether it was feasible to go ahead with a plan to change the status of the land to industrial.
The council's 10-year industrial growth plan, approved in 2009, said it was likely industrial activities on the strip would start up even if it did not rezone the land and fit it with the services businesses needed.
It would then be under pressure to "retrofit infrastructure" to accommodate industrial enterprise at a greater cost with limited opportunity to recover those expenses.
The industrial growth plan suggested it would cost about $17 million over 10 years to expand the district's industrial areas in Tomoana, Irongate and Omahu roads. The cost would be recovered from a levy developers had to pay before the start of construction.
Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce chief executive Murray Douglas said industrial land needed to be available so the region could take advantage of new business opportunities.
"The simple matter is that unless we have land choices available, when we do get opportunities, they need to be accommodated quickly and not wait about until the land is serviced," Mr Douglas said.
He said applying for consents was "the easy part" but councils often stalled when it came time to put services in place for new businesses. Councils were caught between "doing the work" and being uncertain how the costs could be recovered.
"It leaves people like me saying, get the land ready to build, when they come, they don't want to wait two years for the consents and services," Mr Douglas said.
Bulky goods retailer Bunnings has had trouble finding a suitable site for a large store in either Hastings or Napier. The Environment Court turned down an appeal by Bunnings in 2011 for a 10,263sq m home improvement store on Pakowhai Rd on land zoned for food production.
The chain had an option to purchase a site in Napier's Prebensen Drive in 2004 but let the option lapse while waiting ratification from its Australian head office.