Updated 11 September 2018
The City Centre Zone is to maintain and enhance the role and function of the City Centre as the principal retail, commercial, civic, entertainment and cultural centre of the City and the Western Bay of Plenty subregion.
Zone provisions enable a wide range of land-use activities to establish within base environmental standards. The Plan provisions will guide major change in land use and development on both private and public sites, support the development and use of public spaces and pedestrian amenities, and assist accessibility to and within the City Centre for public and private transport.
The scale and form of buildings and facilities in the City Centre will reflect its premier place in the commercial network of the City and the sub-region. New investment will be attracted to maintain and enhance this position while addressing environmental effects.
The zone encompasses three areas of distinct character and function:
- An intense land use activity core with an emphasis on maximising business, entertainment and civic opportunities through large-scale development while supporting good pedestrian movement, amenity, safety and convenience. Within this area pedestrian environment streets have been identified where the amenity and convenience of pedestrians is paramount. Along these streets an active street frontage with interaction between public and private spaces is expected, with vehicle access across the footpath discouraged, special provisions to promote the protection of sunlight in important public spaces, controls on wind effects around buildings, and weather protection by verandahs;
- A fringe area surrounding the core that mixes business, commerce, education, traffic movement and parking in a complementary manner. Building height and scale will be less than in the core;
- A special waterfront policy area with two precincts; Dive Crescent (which has a commercial focus with a small fishing fleet) and The Strand (that supports recreation and entertainment activities, particularly events associated with the inner harbour or City Centre itself).
- The zone has parking and access provisions applying to development and these are seen as complementary to the wider traffic and parking management policies implemented by the Council. This is to be taken into account in large-scale development proposals.
Definitions in this section
activity/activities
building
council
the city
height
pedestrian environment street
the plan
retail
site
sub-region