Tune in to FDS hearings next week
24 August 2023
Hearings for the Draft Rotorua Future Development Strategy (FDS) will take place over two days next week.
The FDS Joint Committee, made up of elected members from Rotorua Lakes Council and Bay of Plenty Regional Council and an independent Chair, will hear from 35 submitters on Monday (28 August) and Tuesday (29 August).
Deliberations will following the hearings on Friday 1 September.
Public consultation on the draft FDS took place between 1 June and 17 July 2023, and during that period council received 108 submissions including 73 survey responses via council’s online engagement platform and 35 comprehensive submissions.
Feedback was also collected through public drop-in sessions, workshops with students and community groups and hui with mana whenua.
How to watch
The hearings will be held in the Council Chamber, and are open to the public to attend. They will also be livestreamed via Council’s Youtube channel and can be viewed live or later.
View the hearing timetable here. Please note this is subject to change.
Draft Rotorua Future Development Strategy
The draft FDS is the long-term strategy for the development of Rotorua that provides for the social, economic and cultural wellbeing of its people. It outlines future growth for housing and businesses and will help guide decisions about investment for the district.
The draft FDS will replace the 2018 Rotorua Spatial Plan, guiding how and where growth should happen over the next 30 years, ensuring there is sufficient land and infrastructure to meet any housing and business demand that may occur.
The proposals for growth set out in the Draft FDS are the result of 18 months of conversations with mana whenua, key partners, neighbouring councils, industry experts and the wider community, and build on the work Council did together with the community on the 2018 Rotorua Spatial Plan.
To accommodate our housing and business needs, the draft FDS proposes options for housing and business growth across four Priority Development Areas (PDA) – Ngongotahā, the Westside, Central Rotorua and the Eastside. This includes residential intensification across most of the city enabled through Plan Change 9, with areas for new development around Ngongotahā and Eastside.
All information relating to the Draft Rotorua Future Development Strategy can be found at the following link on Council’s Let’s Talk/Korero Mai platform: