A 350-house development at Ngongotahā is only weeks into planning but already opinions are divided whether the village should fight it or welcome it.
More details were released last night at a public meeting about a plan to bring 350 modern and healthy homes to 31 Ngongotahā Rd, near Rotorua.
At the meeting, organised by Rotorua District Residents and Ratepayers and chaired by Reynold Macpherson, about 400 people packed the Ngongotahā Community Hall to hear from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development about why it had bought the 15.9ha site.
The meeting heard from ministry deputy chief executive Ben Dalton, developer Watchman Residential director Marcus Jacobson and contracted engineer James Dufty who tried to convince residents it had done its homework on building on swamp land the Government had previously rejected for a private housing scheme.
Dalton said they were only into week seven of the planning stages and there was a lot of work yet to do. He said the first stage was for 196 single and two-storey homes and he assured the community they would be kept informed.
Dufty took the residents through the detailed work to ensure the development was viable on swamp land.
He said hydraulic modelling had been completed as well as geotechnical, quantity surveying and infrastructure investigations.
He said the entire area wasn’t a flood plain and homes would not be built on the flood plain itself.
He said it was a high-quality development and the Resource Management Act process would show there was no effect on downstream properties. He said developments on such swamp lands were not unusual.
“Sites always have constraints. This is no different but it’s done all over Aotearoa and in multiple countries.”
Jacobson said the homes would be high-density, a mix of single and two-storey, with car parks. Homes would be 130sq m to 150sq m and he estimated it would be for about 1000 people in total.
He said there would be strong interest from buyers and sales were usually done using a ballot system.
“We want to make sure everyone in Rotorua gets that opportunity first [to buy the homes].”
He told the residents not to think of it as a Kāinga Ora [KO] development.
“This is not KO we are building. We will have some social housing but don’t think of this as KO, think of it as affordable housing.”
The residents demanded details and answers. While some of the speakers were heckled, there was plenty of support.
Progress Ngongotahā chairman Bob Martin said so far he was impressed with the type and standard of houses that would be built.
“I believe we need this.”
He said the area already suffered with its poor infrastructure, including an old pipe system.
“We need more houses in Ngongotahā and this is the only way we are going to get it and that’s to have Government work with us.”
Kaumatua Geoff Rice said New Zealand’s population sat idle throughout the decades from the 1970s around the 2 million mark and suddenly we were now at more than 5 million.
“They’ve got to go somewhere ... We have a beautiful village but somehow we have to find balance and homes for our people.”
Local man John Newton said there were families moving into caravans around marae because there were no homes and issues around the District Plan and papakāinga developments.
“I would love to see a development happen. The council aren’t going to do it. They are not even taking their councillors out for Christmas dinner, they are saving money, you think they are going to replace the pipes (infrastructure), I don’t think so. The only opportunity to get it done is to get this development.”
Newton urged the residents to have faith in the engineers because he could guarantee the houses would be quality builds.
Rotorua Hospital paediatrician and Ngongotahā resident Aimee Kettoola said she had seen the downstream impact of poor housing in Rotorua and she was shocked when she moved to the city in 2018 at the lack of quality modern homes.
But she also urged the Government to ensure there was infrastructure around any development, including medical centres.
Ngongotahā leader, kaumātua and New Zealand Police Deputy Commissioner Wallace Haumaha said he considered himself a progressive person but he wasn’t convinced the right homework had been done.
He said residents wanted to know the impacts on infrastructure.
“There is going to be quality housing but can you guarantee there are going to be quality people going into those houses. What impact is that going to have on the township if the town turns to custard - and I’m not making judgements on any person or characterising on any sort of person or being rude to people - but those are the questions that need to be answered when we are sitting here to have this conversation.”
He said he was surprised no one had come to them as mana whenua to learn about the land.
“Once the flooding starts the whole thing just runs down through the river and wipes out everything in its sight and I’ve seen that in different times when we have had those floods.”
He said there needed to be more work on the infrastructure with 350 extra houses having run off going into the Waiteti Stream.
“That runoff will still have a hell of an impact on our river.”
He said it was about working together.
“Of course, we want more houses and good quality houses ... You owe the respect for everyone to part of the conversation.”
Ngāti Ngararanui spokesman Guy Ngatai spoke about the history and cultural significance of the land and waterways.
“Can you give us that assurance that the river we love will not be placed under any future risk and threat than it already is?”
Ngongotahā School principal Craig McFadyen expressed concerns his school of 300 pupils could have 400 more children.
He said he had been told there were no plans to build another school and any additional children would need to be accommodated at the existing school - something he said there was simply no room for.
Patricia Hosking said her property bordered 31 Ngongotahā Rd and she’d seen the land flood three times in 30 years. Copies of a photograph of the land under water in the April 2018 flood were attached on the walls around the hall and Hosking referenced the photograph when she said climate change would deliver more similar severe rainfall events.
A local woman said she grew up in Ngongotahā and local children never played on the land because it was considered tapu.
“We don’t doubt we need housing but is this really the right land?”
She said it felt like the Government was trying to rush through housing to fix the problem it created in emergency housing motels.
A woman questioned why it needed to be 350 homes, saying already the trip into Rotorua already could take up to 45 minutes and more people would add to the bottleneck.
Rotorua MP Todd McClay, who was the only elected representative at the meeting, said 87 houses were initially proposed for the site but the Government turned it down for flooding and congestion reasons.
“Those issues must be addressed ... If you were worried about congestion for 87 houses, I need to know why you are no longer worried for 350.”
He had earlier been locked up for outrageously dangerous driving. It was caught on video.