Council supports new Flaxmere housing development

Hastings acting mayor Sandra Hazlehurst says a new housing initiative in Flaxmere is well supported by the council. Photo/File

A housing project proposed for West Flaxmere will move to the next stage of investigations after the Hastings District Council agreed in principle to support the development of more than 100 houses.

The business case for the Waingakau Village Project was created by Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga who first presented the concept to the council, which owns some of the land earmarked for the development in the Kingsley suburb .

The proposal included the development of 76 cohouses (a community of clustered housing with common shared neighbourhood facilities) and 44 conventional houses.

In a report to the council, chief financial officer Bruce Allan said the cohouses would be made up of 12 one-bedroom houses, 14 two-bedroom houses, 35 three-bedroom houses and 15 larger three-bedroom houses.

The proposed development area incorporated 15.5 hectares of land, which had been partially subdivided in the 1990s but had remained vacant since then.

Mr Allen said the project arose from concerns raised by councillors earlier this year about homelessness and social and affordable housing in Hawke's Bay.

A working group was formed with representatives from council, Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga (TToH), U-Turn Trust and Te Aranga Marae to
evaluate the best options for further development of the land owned by the council and TToH between Kirkwood Rd and Mitchell Pl/Boston Cres in Flaxmere.

To date an initial business case had been completed and sets out the goal of the village which was to provide affordable, quality homes, housing a range of people from young to elderly in houses of varying styles and sizes.

Within the 15.5ha of land 3ha of Hastings District Council-owned land was proposed to be a food forest, 2.2ha was the Te Aranga Marae community garden, 8ha was Te Aranga Marae and its grounds which would include a common houe facility, and 9.4ha was residential zoned land.

Also included in the design was a healthy cafe and co-operative community corner shop, a small business incubator, a wellbeing centre and carparking, with a focus on providing green spaces and a sense of shared community, although houseowners lived independently.

The homes would be priced between $140,000 and $375,000 depending on their size, and TToH aimed to offer different ways of home ownership including subsidised rent to buy, assisted ownership, long-term rental and private ownership.

At this stage the business case did not provide any detail on how the development would be undertaken or how it would be funded, said Mr Allan.

"A much more detailed proposal will come back to council that will further investigate the delivery of such a development."

In the meantime, however, the council gave its support to the development in principle, which would enable TToH to approach and consult with the community, other organisations and agencies to secure support and understand the potential financial investment opportunities.

Acting mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said the council had been part of the journey for a number of years and congratulated the team for the business case that was presented.

"This is more than affordable homes, it's providing a community and village which is very exciting."