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A new industrial business park to service Tauranga and the wider Bay of Plenty region is set to be developed to support the region’s fast growing primary sector and strong economy in line with approvals set out by the Environment Court in 2005.
The site at 297 Te Puna Station Road is to be developed by Te Puna Industrial Limited, a partnership of local investors and ContainerCo.
Te Puna Industrial spokesperson and ContainerCo managing director Ken Harris said now is the time to realise the vision of the former owners in 2004 to create a staged ‘Green’ business park in Te Puna Road Station to service the local rural sector and the Bay of Plenty economy over the next 5-15 years.
In 2005, the Environment Court approved a private plan change moving the zoning from rural to industrial to enable the creation of the Te Puna Business Park. Provisions of the plan change process include bespoke mitigation measures to ensure a lower level of impact and adverse environmental effects on the surrounding area.
Since then there has been noticeable growth in commercial, industrial and residential development in the Te Puna area. There has also been investment in local infrastructure to better service the area including an upgrade of the Te Puna Road-State Highway 2 roundabout and works have also begun on Stage 1 of the new 6.8km four-lane motorway connecting SH29 Takitimu Drive through to SH2 west of Te Puna.
“The business park concept was initiated 18 years ago to meet growth in sectors such as Kiwifruit across Bay of Plenty and its now more important than ever as exports have increased and as has growth at the Port of Tauranga, which is now the largest in New Zealand,” Mr Harris said.
Resource consents have been sought to give effect to the Te Puna Business Park industrial zoning provisions applying to the site. All tenants including ContainerCo will comply with the consent requirements including noise, visual and landscape mitigation, building heights, stormwater and other environmental requirements.
The predominant use of the development will be industrial in nature in accordance with specific use types permitted at the Te Puna Business Park. The long-term goal is to accommodate businesses such as specialised workshops, machinery outlets, and offices predominantly focused on supporting the rural sector and related exports, incorporating ContainerCo operations.
It is proposed to develop the site in three stages. Stage 1 will see extensive landscaping and environmental enhancement work such as bunds and setbacks from road frontage as well as ponds and other features that enhance both enhance environmental outcomes and visual appeal and cultural values.
“We expect that landscaping work and water management on site will enhance the surrounding area and be based on the re-establishment of indigenous vegetation and indigenous fauna. Our goal in this regard is to support the general, social and cultural wellbeing of the community and the environment.”
Mr Harris says moving low intensity specialist support businesses to Te Puna enables ContainerCo to better support local produce exporters and capacity issues at its Mount Maunganui sites.
“The site will provide a base for our container refurbishment and hire and sales teams”.
“Large numbers of containers are not envisaged but we expect to hold a small supply of containers for kiwifruit growers and packers to cope with summer harvest demands and in the long-term the site may well serve as a depot for our Electric Vehicle (EV) container shuttle fleet including fast charging points”.
ContainerCo is a Tauranga based business employing a culturally diverse workforce of around 100 staff in the city across sites at Mount Maunganui and Sulphur Point.