While pleased to see Mike Fletcher writing in the Ōpōtiki News, some statements he has made in his opinion piece, need to be clarified, writes Ōpōtiki Mayor David Moore

There is no sudden change from me on the subject of Hukutaia. This is not about reticulation; it’s about zone changes and I’ve always said that the district plan didn’t go far enough when it comes to future growth.  

We know (and certainly those who pay town regional council rates know) that the cost of protecting the homes in town is increasing. Add to that potential future insurance or climate change risks and costs, means we need to be acting now to help Ōpōtiki in the long term.

Mr Fletcher’s first line is absolutely true – council meetings are a forum for debate with a wide range of opinions and questions brought to the table to represent community interests.

But as anyone who has been in a formal meeting would know, robust discussion is not the same as an open free-for-all.

We have strict rules and processes to walk us through a series of steps from asking questions of staff to openly debating decision points.

These rules should be Governance 101 for all councillors and Mr Fletcher.

Getting council process right matters, and I reminded Cr Tom Brooks of the rules several times throughout the meeting. I would encourage anyone who wants to better understand how council meetings are run to have a read of our Standing Orders.

I’d also like to note another error that slipped into Mr Fletcher’s letter which is that council is there to “get the best results for ratepayers”.

It is a point I have made several times now and it is an important distinction – council works for the whole community, including renters, care home residents, visitors and whānau, holiday homeowners, children, and those who might move here one day.

It is not a semantic distinction. It is important that those who live in our rohe know that their council is there for them and working for the best for everyone, not just those who directly receive a rates bill in the mail.

Council is not a landowner-representation system.

It is undeniable that we have a housing shortage, and this has been documented many times on paper, but more importantly it is felt deeply by those who simply cannot find somewhere to live here, and by businesses struggling to find staff because there is no place for them to rent or buy.

For years now, Hukutaia has been the district’s preferred growth area. We have (largely) run out of room in town. Flat areas are too low-lying to take large-scale growth. We can’t build over good horticultural land or conservation land. In contrast, Hukutaia has space and services and is close to town, it is above the sea and rivers, but well-connected to the business district and industry.

There are large areas of iwi-held land for which Whakatōhea have long-held aspirations around commerce, health and housing. And we have resolved some initial confusion about being ‘forced’ to connect to the wastewater system when it becomes available.

Council is not a developer, and we can’t make development happen. And if Mr Fletcher does not want to build properties on his land, absolutely no one will make him do so. What council can do is make it clear to developers that the wider Hukutaia area is where we would like to see growth and make sure the rules allow for people who want to build there.

We also have more steps yet to take, such as, decide how to pre-fund infrastructure (slowly repaid with development contributions), create an infrastructure strategy, decide development contribution levels, and work with central government agencies, such as NZTA over new roading and roundabouts and so on. It is a big project and already well under way and we need to prepare for the rainy day.

We have consulted on it in long-term plans, signed off Growth Strategies, agreed to move forward with Plan Changes, and it is central to our Eastern Bay Spatial Plan, which has also been publicly consulted on.

The paper we were discussing at last month’s council meeting was largely a process paper.

We were discussing the option of using the Streamlined Planning Process for the Hukutaia Plan Change.

It was not the place to go back to first principles and re-debate whether Hukutaia is the best place for our town to grow or whether we need a plan change at all. The time for that discussion has passed. Particularly, if a councillor is attempting to debate this topic with staff who are presenting to council on a technical matter of plan changes.

This is not a “rush” as Mr Fletcher seems to think. This has been core council business since at least 2021.

I am not even going to respond to Mr Fletcher’s mana whenua query, although Mr Fletcher may like to expand further on that in a public forum.