Consultation on reserves proposal may be extended
Council is considering the potential to extend the consultation period for the reserves proposal and to also enable verbal feedback.
As part of efforts to address Rotorua’s housing shortage, Council is investigating the potential to sell reserve sites that don’t meet open space requirements, make these available for housing and use the proceeds to improve the city’s reserves network.
Consultation on the proposal opened 31 May with a closing date of 1 July and about 155 submissions have been received so far.
"We have received feedback from the community that people would like more time to submit and that some would like to have their feedback heard and we are considering this and how it could be accommodated," CE Geoff Williams says.
"We hope to be able to let the community know next week."
The proposal identifies two reserves and eight parts of reserves that could be used for housing of various types, including social housing, and feedback from the community will be used to assist with decision-making about whether to proceed and how.
Decisions still to be made include whether or not to sell any or all of the 10 identified sites, the mechanism to revoke reserve status if the decision is made to progress (ie a Local Bill or the Reserves Act process), which reserves any proceeds of sale should be invested in and any conditions of sale that should be imposed if the proposal is progressed.
Anyone who wishes to make a submission is welcome to do so and notification of the proposal and consultation included 5776 letters sent to owners of properties close to the reserve sites identified in the proposal. These were put in the post on Tuesday 31 May.
If you live in one of these areas but haven't received a letter, you can still give feedback. The letters were used as an additional way to notify as many of those most directly impacted by the proposal as possible.
There are several ways you can give feedback. To view the full proposal and additional information and to see how you can provide feedback go to THIS LINKon Council's website.