The Whakatāne District Council has invited selected real estate agencies to submit proposals for marketing its landholding at 77 Bunyan Road for “residential and lifestyle retirement village development purposes”.

Submissions from interested agencies were required to be submitted this week, and the successful agency is expected to be selected in September.

Reporting to the Council’s Policy Committee on 18 August, General Manager Strategy and Community Julie Gardyne said early feedback indicated that a number of agencies would be submitting proposals for consideration.

“Council’s request for proposals sets out the background of the 77 Bunyan Road block and its desire to have it marketed as a ‘wholesale offering’ to developers prepared to develop the property for residential and retirement village purposes, in the near future,” she said. “The Environment Court findings earlier this year confirmed the landholding’s residential zoning, as well as the need to protect the cultural sensitivity of the urupa to the east of the block. It is a requirement that Council works with Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa and the Opihi Whanaungakore Trustees to develop a joint buffer zone management plan, to ensure that the urupa is protected from the effects of urban activities.”

A survey will also be undertaken to identify any areas of high ecological value and recommend suitable vegetation types for planting in the urupa and coastal protection buffer zones, which make up approximately a quarter of the 40-hectare block.