Mount Maunganui retirement village build by Sanderson Group under fire from neighbours

Neighbours fighting plans for a $100 million-plus Mount Maunganui retirement village that could reach six storeys believe they have been “blindsided” by the size and scale of the project.

The proposed “state-of-the-art” Sanderson Group development would feature 160 apartments, 69 care suites and 195 basement car parks within three buildings.

It is one step closer to getting the green light through the Ministry for the Environment under the Covid-19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Act.

Tauranga City Council’s sale of its former Pitau Rd elder housing village site to the company for an undisclosed sum settled on Thursday last week.

A council boss wrote a letter supporting a fast-tracked process for the development.

The Sanderson Group says the development could generate hundreds of jobs and help address the needs of Tauranga’s ageing population and that its proposal to build up to six storeys has been publicly available for months.

However, next-door neighbours feel “blindsided” and claim they initially understood it would be a 9m-high development – the building height limit for the area.

The council is working to change the limit to 22m, or six storeys, following government changes to housing rules.

The neighbours have joined a group opposing the development, fearing it could open the door to more high-rises in residential streets and change the “vibe” of Mount Maunganui.

Pitau Rd residents Rob and Trish Anderson said they originally supported the project when they believed it would be 9m high.

“We had no problem with that – nobody did – but now they want to build up to six storeys one metre off our boundary. It’s going to be huge … [in my opinion] we won’t get the sun at all,” Rob said.

In his view: “We’ve been blindsided.”

He was also concerned about the traffic.

“We feel powerless and unrepresented,” Trish said.

Their next-door neighbour, Maura Tailby, was “absolutely horrified” by the development, which would wrap around two sides of her house.

She claimed “alarm bells” set off for her when the Sanderson Group chief executive attended a meeting and told neighbours “they knew they would get four storeys but were going for six”.

“So, most people thought it’s not going to happen but that indicated to me … the council already knew about it.”

Tailby said Sanderson Group had offered her husband, who suffers from dementia, a guaranteed place in the dementia ward if she ever sold her house.

“But how the hell could I ever afford that?”

The neighbours understood Sanderson Group had bought the two houses behind Tailby and they understood about five purchased houses would be demolished for the development.

Barry Brown, a spokesman for the group of neighbours opposed to the development, said he had written to Environment Minister Penny Simmonds.

“We said Covid was gone and, under the [fast-track consenting] act, it allows limited input from the community and limited right of appeal.”

He said Simmonds acknowledged their concerns and hoped the community would get a chance to have their say.

“Hopefully we will. We have got to protect the Mount Maunganui vibe; it is a very special seaside atmosphere for the locals and visitors.”

Proposal could fall under Plan Change 33

The development could fall under Tauranga City Council’s controversial proposed Plan Change 33, which includes changing height restrictions. Submissions have been heard and an independent hearings panel is due to make recommendations to the council by June.

Under the change, properties within 400m of the Mount North commercial centre, which includes Sanderson Group’s site, could be rezoned to enable a 22m building through a restricted discretionary resource consent.

A Ministry for Environment spokesperson said Sanderson Group’s application was lodged last year and had been accepted by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to go before an expert consenting panel.

According to its website, a panel was appointed on January 29 and consists of chairman Mike Doesburg and panel members Pāora Stanley and Gavin Kemble.

Sanderson Group has developed six local retirement villages including the Bethlehem Views Aged and Dementia Care Facility and other large comprehensive projects such as Metlifecare The Avenues Tauranga, The Cascades in Hamilton and the Central Lakes Southern Cross Hospital in Queenstown.

Asked to respond to the neighbours’ comments, Sanderson Group chief executive Jared Baronian said: “You are not correct with this.”

He said its six-storey proposal had been publicly available and shared online since July.

It also participated in the Tauranga Plan Change 33 public hearing process and he said naturally there were mixed views on change.

“We acknowledge and are sympathetic. However, there are socially pressing needs within our ageing community and [a] housing shortage that requires addressing.”

The retirement village would feature a theatre, library, health spa, gym, swimming pool, medical treatment suites, restaurant, bar and basement car park.

“The facilities will be state-of-the-art, modern yet timeless and of the highest quality.”

Baronian said work would start in the middle of this year, the first residents would move in in 2026 and the development should be completed by the end of 2028.

Sanderson Group’s application said the village could generate 382 jobs during the six years of construction and about 120 to 130 ongoing jobs from medical roles to carers, cleaners to management.

Baronian said aged care was in a supply crisis with wait lists growing.

Mount Maunganui’s population aged over 65 was projected to double in the next 20 years, placing serious pressure on the aged sector.

In the next 10 years, the Bay of Plenty would need 2957 more independent retirement units, requiring two large-scale village builds a year – but less than one was delivered annually at present, he said.

Alongside its application was a letter of support from the council from March 3, 2023.

The letter said a fast-tracked consenting assessment could accelerate Sanderson Group’s development, which would deliver much-needed retirement housing and dementia care facilities.

The letter said an expert consulting panel would “mitigate any perception of a conflict of interest which might arise from council’s dual roles as former landowner and the consent authority”.

Council chief financial officer Paul Davidson said it could not confirm the sale price for the Pitau Rd site as it was commercially sensitive.

“We are satisfied we obtained a fair market price for the property.”

The council dealt directly with Sanderson Group rather than taking the property to the open market.

“The primary [reason] was our desire to achieve strategic objectives including obtaining a fair market price for the land, delivering needed residential elder care beds for the city and providing a comprehensive medium-density development across the whole of the Pitau Rd elder village site.”

The sale proceeds were being reinvested into achieving housing outcomes.

Davidson said the council supported Sanderson Group’s application for fast-track consenting because “it was important the application be dealt with independently and quickly while ensuring relevant resource management matters are appropriately considered and addressed”.

Tauranga’s current City Plan enables a permitted height of 9m plus 2m for building features such as chimneys at the Pitau Rd site.

Under Plan Change 33, this could rise to 22m through discretionary resource consent. The council noted a “cultural viewshaft” applied to the site, which could limit heights as encroaching it would also require discretionary consent.

The hearings for Plan Change 33 closed on December 18. The council was waiting for recommendations from the independent panel and must decide on those recommendations by June.

Carmen Hall is a news director for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, covering business and general news. She has been a Voyager Media Awards winner and a journalist for 25 years.