A bird's eye view of the Tauranga Golf Club and Tauranga Racecourse, captured in 2008. Photo / Jimmy Joe
A bird's eye view of the Tauranga Golf Club and Tauranga Racecourse, captured in 2008. Photo / Jimmy Joe
Plans to potentially move Tauranga Racecourse and establish a regional racing venue with Rotorua have been met with the threat of legal action from the land's original owners.
Tauranga City Council commissioners will on Monday consider a report that contains survey findings from the Greerton Maarawaewae Study.
The study focuseson the future use of the Crown land, administered by the council, which Racing Tauranga and Tauranga Golf Club lease. It's expected a decision will be made on June 13.
The council yesterday released the findings from consultants that ranked future options for the 85ha site.
One, in particular, was ranked most favoured. This consisted of keeping the golf course, moving the racecourse and Tauranga Equestrian Sports Association and creating a community centre.
Maori historian and iwi representative Buddy Mikaere. Photo / Andrew Warner
This option also included potential health services, enhanced connections to Kopurereua Valley and integrated cultural narratives. It did not include any housing plans.
It is unclear where any regional racecourse would be based.
The option was the top of four ranked in the shortlist, none of which included retaining the racecourse. The second option consisted of a destination park and about 900 to 1300 new homes of "different housing types".
Ngāi Tamarāwaho representative Buddy Mikaere said if the second-ranked option was eventually decided upon, that "would definitely trigger a Treaty claim".
The hapū did not include the reserve in its Treaty of Waitangi claim because the land is being used for public recreation.
Any change to its status, which would be needed if housing was built, would need to go through a significant plan change process and prompt legal action.
In a paper from New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR), it stated it was encouraging Racing Rotorua and Racing Tauranga to "work together on what the future of racing will be for the Bay of Plenty region".
"While acknowledging the Bay of Plenty is a population growth hub, NZTR is of the view that thoroughbred racing in the region may be best sustained in the long term if there is only one venue for racing in the region."
Mikaere, also a Racing Tauranga trustee, said the racecourse had a historic element that created the recreational reserve status in the first place.
The proposed and most preferred option of what could be done with land where Tauranga Racecourse and the Tauranga Golf Club currently reside. Image / TCC
"The establishment of the racecourse goes back to just after [the 1864 Battle of] Gate Pa. The racecourse at the time was going to be in town . . . it was decided they needed more land. That's when the whole creation of the recreational reserve took place. That's the reason it's there, because of the racecourse."
Mikaere said the club, named New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Club of the Year, would "come back hard" to keep the racecourse.
Te Tuinga Whanau chief executive Tommy Wilson also opposed the housing options.
The support service looks after 400 state homes and 168 homeless families but Wilson believed: "If they were to build houses on the racecourse, not one of those houses would end up with our families."
Wilson feared the homes would likely be out of reach for those most in need.
"For us, it's far better our impoverished people to have green space . . . even if they don't have a house, they can access that green space to walk, talk and enjoy the whenua."
Asked how the council would manage Tauranga's dire housing shortage if its housing proposals were constantly opposed, general manager of strategy and growth Christine Jones said legislation due this year amending the Resource Management Act would better empower and enable the council to create more housing.
Proposed housing developments at Smiths Farm and Parau Farms, which have already drawn opposition, could be traded for use as active reserves if housing went somewhere such as Greerton, and vice versa, she said.
Te Tuinga Whanau Support Services executive director Tommy Wilson. Photo / George Novak
"It's an ongoing conversation and the city, actually, is not going to look like it did 10 years ago. It's going to be a more dense urban environment. We will be using different modes of transport, Cameron Rd will be a main arterial corridor. The look and feel of the city will be different."
Jones said the council and Kāinga Ora were working with mana whenua about plans for the land, reaffirming Mikaere's views to continuing its recreation reserve status.
Programme director of urban communities Carl Lucca said the findings came from more than 650 pieces of feedback of what the community most wanted to see, plus what the city most needed as it grew.
The options were given specific weightings of key considerations when ranked, he said.
Consultants placed 20 per cent weight on future health needs, 25 to 30 per cent on green space and active recreation, 25 to 30 per cent to housing, 10 per cent to existing stakeholders and 15 to 20 per cent to cost.
"We felt that was reflective of what the city needs," he said.
The findings will be formally presented to the city's commission in a council meeting on Monday but a decision is not expected until June 13. This will allow time for the council to talk with mana whenua and existing users and to hear their feedback.
