Reserve reclassification still caters to retirement
18 September 2017
A CLASSIFIED aged care reserve at Kawerau will lose its status and be changed to ensure retirement units can still be built.
The 1.29-hectare parcel of land on River Road adjoining the Mountain View Rest Home, Hospital and Retirement Village was obtained by Kawerau District Council in an exchange with Tuwharetoa Holdings in March this year.
It was obtained by the council as a recreational reserve, but so that it could be used for the construction of additional retirement units as part of the rest home, it was reclassified to local purpose (aged care).
At an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday, September 12 the council received a report outlining the need to reclassify the reserve once again.
A report to the council, written by policy analyst and strategic planner Sandra Haines, said the Social Services Trust Board, which operates the Mountain View complex advised the council it was not able to build retirement units on the land.
“This leaves the council with the ownership of a reserve with a precise and narrow classification which does not allow it to be used for anything other than aged care,” Mrs Haines wrote.
“Council acquired the land to provide additional retirement accommodation for the growing number of older people in Kawerau.
“The classification of aged care was appropriate as part of the planned expansion of the Mountain View complex, as it also includes a rest home and other facilities which provide care for older people.”
Mrs Haines told councillors they could not offer that element of “aged care” meaning the classification needed to be changed to allow retirement units to be built and operated by other providers and organisations.
The report said, “council does not intend to invite a second aged care provider to establish a facility in Kawerau”.
Mayor Malcom Campbell said the council would not go into opposition with Mountain View.
However, the council would risk being left with an unusable reserve while the growing demand for retirement accommodation in the district remained.
The council will consider any objections to the reclassification at a meeting on October 31, 2017 and determine the outcome.
Source: Whakatane Beacon