Town Centres
Introduction
Our town centres are more than places where people just shop and work- they are the heart of our communities. They bring locals, visitors and businesses together, and are a destination for the community to enjoy for socialising, taking part in events and recreation activities. We have three main town centres in the Taupō District- these are in Taupō, Mangakino and Tūrangi.
To ensure our town centres remain great places for everyone to live, work and play in it is important that we think about their future development and how we need to allow for this in our District Plan.
Tūrangi Town Centre
We have been thinking about how best to plan for the future of the Tūrangi town centre, and how our District Plan will play a role in this. We believe we need to meet with our Tūrangi community to hear more about what they want before formally consulting and making changes to the district plan.
There are also other ongoing projects that we need to consider. Taupō District Council has recently finalised a Mana Whakahono agreement with Ngāti Tūrangitukua. The agreement considers how we will work in partnership on a range of functions within the Ngāti Tūrangitukua rohe, it also reflects Ngāti Tūrangitukua’s aspiration to make decisions over particular matters within its rohe.
We will be back to talk about the Tūrangi town centre, and any changes we are proposing to the district plan in a few months’ time- once these Governance agreements have been finalised and we have had the opportunity to meet further with the Tūrangi community. But in the meantime if you have any thoughts about changes we could make to the District Plan to improve the Tūrangi town centre, feel free to note them down for us.
Taupō Town Centre
BUILDING HEIGHTS
The district plan currently allows for buildings to be built to three stories as a permitted activity within the town centre.
However, the plan also states that in some situations buildings that exceed this height may be appropriate. Recent consents within the town centre have illustrated that our current building height rules in our district plan are confusing. This is why we are proposing to clarify our building height rules for Taupō Town Centre.
We are proposing to increase the maximum height permitted in our district plan to 12-18 metres, or 4-6 storeys in some parts of the town centre.
To get an idea of where these proposed changes will impact, take a look at this map:
Pictured below is a conceptual image only to give an idea of what taller buildings may look like in the Taupō Town Centre.
Temporary Activities
A scenic playground of diverse landscapes halfway between New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland and its capital, Wellington – it’s not hard to see why Taupō is so popular as an events venue.
Our district is host to the iconic annual IRONMAN New Zealand, Lake Taupō Cycle Challenge, Great Lake Relay and Across the Lake Swim; food, wine, music and merriment at the Taupō Winter Festival; art and culture at Graffiato; and international music acts at the Taupō Summer Concert, as well as a host of golf, fishing, motorsport and other sporting events, music gigs, parades, workshops and community performances.
In our District Plan, some things associated with these events (such as marquees) are considered to be temporary activities. They are short in duration, which means that people are often able to tolerate their effects and the impact they may have on everyday life. Our District Plan has rules in it to control the impacts, frequency, size, noise and traffic of a temporary activity appropriately.
Currently, our district plan allows a temporary activity to set up shop for 3 operational days, and 5 days to set up and/or pack up each year. Over time, we have received feedback that this is restricting, particularly for some bigger events that want to stay longer. These activities have significant economic and cultural benefits to Taupō district. It has also been shown that the impacts of these activities on the sites they locate at are controlled.
We are proposing to increase the temporary activity rule to four operational days in a six month period, and 14 non operational days to set up and/or pack up.
Consultation
Consultation on the first bundle of plan changes closed on Monday 13 June 2022.
Thank you for all of the feedback received.
