{"id":158003,"date":"2025-11-28T12:52:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T12:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/158003\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T12:52:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T12:52:11","slug":"tauranga-residents-told-to-fund-asphalt-if-they-want-to-avoid-chipseal-resurfacing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/158003\/","title":{"rendered":"Tauranga residents told to fund asphalt if they want to avoid chipseal resurfacing"},"content":{"rendered":"

P\u0101p\u0101moa residents<\/a> have complained<\/a> that chipseal<\/a> makes roads noisier, rougher and less durable, and that some roads set for resealing don\u2019t need the work at all.<\/p>\n

P\u0101p\u0101moa is not the only suburb, however, where chipseal may replace asphalt on lower-traffic streets.<\/p>\n

In Tuesday\u2019s meeting, Michael Wenzel represented residents of Phillips Drive in Oropi Downs with concerns about chipsealing plans.<\/p>\n

He said they learned their asphalt would be replaced through a letter giving only four working days to provide feedback.<\/p>\n

Wenzel said he went door-to-door asking neighbours for their views. He said he collected 80 signatures of people against chipsealing \u2013 the vast majority of those he spoke to.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn one way, it\u2019s good to see we\u2019re not the only ones,\u201d he said, referring to the other suburbs facing the same fate, such as Bethlehem, Poike, Pyes Pa and Hairini. <\/p>\n

\"NewerNewer parts of Tauranga may have suburban streets laid with asphalt by developers aiming to accommodate construction traffic or attract buyers. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

\u201cWe [will] try to find a solution together with the council.\u201d<\/p>\n

The council decided it would not be fair to impose the extra cost on all ratepayers to have like-for-like asphalt resealing where it was not considered necessary.<\/p>\n

Community self-funding was discussed as a solution for streets that wanted to retain asphalt.<\/p>\n

The meeting was told resealing six P\u0101p\u0101moa streets with asphalt instead of chipseal could require a lump-sum payment of up to $6000 per household, assuming all households contributed.<\/p>\n

The sum could vary depending on the length of the road and the number of homes on it.<\/p>\n

Mayor Mah\u00e9 Drysdale backed this self-funding option.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re prepared to do it, you need to get around your community and you need to fund the cost difference; and that is only fair, as it is not something for the whole of Tauranga to contribute to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\" P\u0101p\u0101moa ward councillor Steve Morris. Photo \/ David Hall<\/p>\n

P\u0101p\u0101moa ward councillor Steve Morris wanted the chipseal programme deferred a year so the council could consult on a targeted rate as part of the Annual Plan 2026\/27 process in April. <\/p>\n

He said affected sites were due to be resealed in February and it was unfair to ask affected residents for \u201csubstantial\u201d upfront costs with so little notice.<\/p>\n

Welcome Bay ward councillor Hautapu Baker said he believed giving a choice for an increased level of service would \u201copen a can of worms\u201d and overcomplicate things.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat if not all residents agree? Who becomes a mediator of those discussions?\u201d <\/p>\n

He said Wellington and Porirua had attempted to offer this before, and both found it too complex to be viable.<\/p>\n

\"TaurangaTauranga City Council Welcome Bay ward councillor Hautapu Baker. Photo \/ Alisha Evans<\/p>\n

\u201cProviding an option with such short notice, while it provides choice for those that are keen … removes the option for those that don\u2019t want the choice to begin with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baker suggested the council consider a well-considered, thorough, debated and consulted option in the Long-Term Plan (LTP) 2027-37 process to take into account all the views and ways to mitigate any potential risks and harms.<\/p>\n

The council voted to develop the self-funded asphalt proposal for the LTP.<\/p>\n

In the first post-meeting media release on Tuesday, Drysdale said the chipseal programme was delivering value for money and needed to continue, as halting it would be costly. <\/p>\n

\"TaurangaTauranga Mayor Mah\u00e9 Drysdale. Photo \/ Alex Cairns<\/p>\n

The release said subdivision developers often paved their roads with asphalt to accommodate heavy construction vehicles and attract buyers.<\/p>\n

Those buyers may not realise their streets would be resealed with chipseal when the asphalt deteriorated. <\/p>\n

The council aimed to resurface before damage happened.<\/p>\n

It resurfaced 25-35km of city streets annually, and this year, central government funding would cover about half the $9 million cost.<\/p>\n

The second media release, on Thursday, emphasised the council had to meet NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) criteria for road maintenance co-funding.<\/p>\n

\u201c[NZTA] will only fund the additional cost of asphalt in exceptional circumstances \u2013 mainly on arterial routes with high traffic flows.\u201d <\/p>\n

Drysdale said like-for-like suburban asphalt resurfacing would \u201clikely mean an increase of at least 2% in rates for every household, which we didn\u2019t feel was an equitable outcome\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said the meeting was in response to \u201csignificant\u201d feedback from people concerned about planned chipsealing of some deteriorating asphalt streets.<\/p>\n

He said during more than two hours of \u201crobust debate\u201d, the council had weighed the options. <\/p>\n

While views differed, and the \u201csolutions may not be perfect\u201d, they were the \u201cbest we could do\u201d within the council\u2019s constraints.<\/p>\n

He said residents living on asphalt roads due to be chipsealed while the new policy was developed could work with the council to reach an agreement for the residents to pay the difference to get asphalt.<\/p>\n

This could cost $2000-$10,000 per property, and streets would need to meet eligibility criteria.<\/p>\n

Ayla Yeoman<\/a> is a multimedia journalist based in Tauranga. She grew up in Taup\u014d and studied at the University of Auckland, holding a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Communications and Politics & International Relations. She has been a journalist since 2022. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"P\u0101p\u0101moa residents have complained that chipseal makes roads noisier, rougher and less durable, and that some roads set…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[104411,17094,104412,295,42,9858,809,43,530,104413,80517,3271,5412,1227,165,27051,8229,61,6859,40,38,41,39,4524],"class_list":{"0":"post-158003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-asphalt","9":"tag-avoid","10":"tag-chipseal","11":"tag-fund","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-if","14":"tag-keep","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-residents","17":"tag-resurfacing","18":"tag-sealed","19":"tag-should","20":"tag-streets","21":"tag-tauranga","22":"tag-their","23":"tag-themselves","24":"tag-they","25":"tag-to","26":"tag-told","27":"tag-top-news","28":"tag-top-stories","29":"tag-topnews","30":"tag-topstories","31":"tag-want"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}