Mount Maunganui North – Plan Change 33 Landscape Qualifying Matters

Nomination statement

The Mount Maunganui North Landscape Qualifying Matters project was initiated by Tauranga City Council (TCC) as a key technical input into Plan Change 33 (PC33), which promulgates the Resource Management (Enabling Housing Supply and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021, the Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS), and Policy 3 of the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS UD). The purpose of the project is to determine where increased building heights and residential intensification can occur within Mount Maunganui North, while protecting the values of identified Outstanding Natural Features and Landscapes (ONFLs) and the Natural Character values of the coastal environment at Pilot Bay and Mount Maunganui Beach. The project was supported by two key assessments: the Urban Intensification Study (July 2022) and the Landscape Qualifying Matters Assessment (June 2023) which provide overarching analysis and computational assessment respectively. The project addressed a high level of complexity arising from nationally directed urban intensification, multiple overlapping statutory instruments, outstanding landscape and coastal values, and public scrutiny. At expert conferencing (July 2023), all experts agreed with the technical matters and recommendations of the assessments, with the assessments subsequently presented at the PC33 hearing in October 2023. The outcome is the evidential basis for a new set of landscape related Qualifying Matters for PC33 and has been formally adopted into the Tauranga City Plan with all landscape maps, recommendations and provisions now operative.