Although the Heretaunga Plains Urban Development Scheme (Hpuds) goes some way to addressing the chronic shortage of sections in the region, it's not happening fast enough, say local builders and developers.
Right now in Havelock North, for example, there are very few, some would say no sections to buy, and what there are have become increasingly expensive.
Scott Taylor of Design Builders Hawke's Bay and the Hawke's Bay president of Registered Masters Builders said that despite two years of campaigning, there was still not enough land for building, putting pressure on several fronts.
"We are not a big developer but we have so many people that want to build, especially in light of the shortage of houses for sale.
"We want to build but we can't find the dirt - it's put a lot of people in a horrible position."
Although developments were getting under way, such as the lifestyle village proposed for the Howard St area, this was not suitable for everyone, particularly young couples and families, he said.
"Rather a young couple is faced with paying $600,000 for a home in Arataki area, and a 700 square metre section in the same area is going for $270,000.
"Over the last two to three years we have seen a massive increase in these prices, and houses across the district are being snapped up as soon as they go on the market.
"We are desperately trying to get people into lower cost sections, but they're just not there.
"If they [the councils] want to alleviate the problem why does it cost so much to sub-divide and create in-fill sections?"
He said while Hpuds was a step in the right direction, it should have been done 18 months ago.
"They have identified Iona Rd, but they have not even got an agreement in place with the landowners - it's years away - there's nothing there to show us there's a plan in place."
For the past 10 years a group of about 14 landowners on Brookvale Rd have been agitating to get an area of Brookvale Road re-zoned to general residential.
Property owner and spokesman for the group Carl Wezel said that while he knew the council had been pushing hard, he agreed with Mr Taylor that it wasn't happening fast enough.
"This area is a logical block for housing - it's flat, uneconomic for horticulture, a lot of the area is landlocked and it has natural buffers next to utilities.
"The council could not see a need for this land to be developed.
"They had a big issue with the Arataki extension and odours from Te Mata Mushrooms, and did not have a contingency plan apart from Iona Rd, which has a lot of issues."
He said what had been learned from Hpuds was that the councils needed to look a bit further into the future and have contingencies in place for rapid growth.
It also gave the region an opportunity to look at what the economic and workforce focus could be moving forward, and not just in terms of horticulture.
"As a region we are better to look at opportunities for the workforce in other industries like IT.
"What's the better return on that bit of dirt - is it better to put something on there so we have a bigger full-time labour force, or stick with what we have been doing for the last 100 years?"
From a horticulture point of view, however, what's been happening over the last 100 years has been good for the economy, and been fulfilling a vital function.
"We need places to live but we also need food," said long-time orchardist and former owner of Pernel Orchard, David Mardon.
Over his years in the industry, he said this had been a long-standing issue and depending on which people were in council at the time there had been situations where he thought they did not have a great understanding of where the wealth was generated in the district.
"In more recent years though I had felt that their rhetoric was such that they were coming to grips with it."
At issue, he said, was the fact the Hastings District sat directly over quality land, but the resource was limited.
What constituted "prime" land was its soil type, drainage and water availability, he said.
"Pukekohe is another unique place with quality land like Hawke's Bay - there's only two per cent or less of this kind of land in New Zealand."
He believed the council should have a more thorough look at the hilly country behind Havelock North for residential development.
"I know it's more costly, but in the long term we are whittling away prime land all over the country."
Hawke's Bay Fruitgrowers Association president Lesley Wilson, who has been a grower in the region for 30 years, said the association and other related parties started the lengthy process of submitting on Hpuds in 2010.
"We were not too happy with some of the outcomes but accepted it as a founding document."
In the 2016 review, however, the plan was altered somewhat, inserting more land for residential development, such as Howard St.
"This was done without further discussion and we're not particularly happy about it.
"We know this is not a legal document, we know it's a strategy but we would like to see strong leadership from councils and for this issue to be strategy-driven not developer-driven.
"We want to preserve these prime, versatile soils for growing food.
"There's plenty of other land in Hawke's Bay that's not good for this, maybe on rolling hills or areas with a slight slope."
She said food security was vital.
"Our produce is sought after overseas because it's safe - if we do not have any land to grow the food where are we going to get it from?
"We will have to import from the very same countries that want our food because it's safer than theirs."
As the councils continue to consider Hpuds she said she would like to see them stick with the guidelines that were set down in 2010 and not start allocating residential land "willy-nilly".
"In 2016 our pipfruit industry was named the most competitive in the world - you don't get those kind of accolades on sub-class soils.
"We are getting so good at it, we have the ability to really grow this industry but we really need the land to do it."