The Letters to Editor Retirement Village

Attn: Ōmokoroa Residents and other interested parties. BGT Developments and partners set out to deliver a more affordable retirement product to the Bay of Plenty.

It was known as The Gables Retirement Village and was set in a beautiful location at the end of Tūī Glen. The layout, use of existing structure, and landform meant that the project was on track to be another Ōmokoroa success. Providing all the features and amenities you’d expect in a village at a more affordable price.

However, unexpected challenges arose with Covid and delays between Council, the planning team, and coordination of council stormwater infrastructure that integrates with the village to name but a few.

Late last year we had another party show interest in purchasing the property with the intention of converting it to a residential development. Whilst it was a tough decision to make, the risk of continuing with the project in the current climate was simply too great.

It is disappointing for us that we will not realise our vision for the site but believe the decision we have made to be the best outcome for all.

We have appreciated the support we received from the Ōmokoroa community and take this moment to compliment the community on their beautiful peninsula and the friendly nature of those who live there.

We hope there may be an opportunity for us to be a part of it again sometime in the future.

Cherie Martin, BGT Developments.

The Editor responds: If you are affected by the decision of The Gables’ developer to sell up - either as a prospective purchaser, or a nearby neighbour of any new residential development - and would like to comment, we will consider letters for publication.

250) need to complete these mitigating works by these rules, and all are required to do all this work prior to any of them having any commercial activity. Sadly, the Council has been very poor in policing this.

Secondly, the Environment Court Ruling clearly states this Rural Business/ Industrial Park is explicitly more Rural Business Park than Industrial in every sense.

Thirdly, Mr Harris’s comment about 15,000 containers per hectare, saying it was likely a decimal point issue, maybe he should be asking for a refund from his consultants or have corrected it earlier. If this number is supposed to be 1,500 containers this is still 1500% more than what he is telling the community in an article on SunLive (10am Saturday 29th Jan) where Mr Harris says no more than 100 containers.

Mr Harris continues to say he is a small local business when his own website says “New Zealand’s leading independent container storage and servicing business. Looking for ContainerCo’s depot services? Check out our eight depots across NZ.”

Also, the ownership is stated as, “ContainerCo, which Harris co-owns with the New Zealand arm of COSCO, a subsidiary of shipping giant China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co.” So they are no local business.

I am an identified affected resident, as noted in their own application, and Mr Harris has not once tried to contact or consult with me.

The above explains why I and the community do not trust Mr Harris and any of his PR intentions, by continuing to treat the community as being stupid just adds to that mistrust. We in the community know that once a business like this gets their foot in the door, we will see Non-Notified Minor Change applications to Council that under the present RMA process will be seen as minor and thus not notified, which will see the height restrictions removed container by container.

If he really was going to have all these other businesses there, where are they and who are they? Where are the expressions of interest? Again, just more PR to hide Mr Harris’s and ContainerCo’s real intentions.

Thanks for being a great local community paper and keep up the excellent work and articles.

Drew Cowley, Te Puna.