LESSONS FROM CO-DEVELOPMENT OF STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PLANS – ENHANCING OUTCOMES

A. Brunsden, L. Foster (WSP New Zealand Ltd), Te Rangimarie Williams (Konae Consulting), S Kelly (Rotorua Lakes Council)

ABSTRACT

In 2020, Ngāti Kea Ngāti Tuarā and Ngāti Whakaue ki Ōhinemutu expressed opposition to the residential development Plan Change at Pukehāngi Heights. Their concerns revolved around the potential loss of their ancestral lands and increased flood risk and water quality degradation in the region.

As mana whenua, the responsibilities of Ngāti Kea Ngāti Tuarā and Ngāti Whakaue ki Ōhinemutu involve prioritising the sustainability of water and acknowledging their connection to it through whakapapa (ancestral lineage). They believe in the power of ihirangaranga (vibrations) and the positive or negative impacts of intentions, words, and actions on wairua (spirit), waiata (song) and waiora (wellbeing).

To honour the importance of water and transition the wairua, locally from one of conflict and opposition, Rotorua Lakes Council and the landowners embarked on a collaborative delivery model with mana whenua intentionally titled to ‘A Plan to Protect our Wai and Communities’ rather than a traditional ‘Stormwater Management Plan’ (SMP).”

The term “stormwater” negates the positive intentions mana whenua wished to convey toward water, emphasising that all water is taonga (treasure), regardless of human impacts. Representatives of mana whenua entities, along with landowners, local and regional authorities, and technical experts, have collaborated to develop the plan that looks to celebrate and enhance te mana o te wai (the life-giving properties of water and the safety of the downstream communities.

Grounded in the shared whakapapa between wai and mana whenua, the mana whenua entities have adopted a Te Mana o te Wai planning framework that through the supporting stormwater management approaches uphold Te Mana o te Wai, and in doing so, uphold the mana of the Ātua who provide wai its mana. This collaborative working group collectively sought to find, mitigate, and address all existing and potential impacts of building up to 1,000 new homes along the Pukehāngi rim of the Rotorua caldera by identifying interventions drawing on the current and emerging technologies and tools available.

This work guides the future subdivision and build out of the Development Area by identifying desired outcomes for Te Mana o te Wai and the measures that will be used to achieve those outcomes. The Plan recognises the inherent values wai carries within the Utuhina and Lake Rotorua catchments, and the impacts that historic rural land use and intensive urban development have had on those values. Specifically, measures that differ from previous development led SMPs and incorporated through this mahi are:

• Distributed mātauranga Maori led treatment and erosion control across the site,
• Maintaining connection of wai with the whenua, and
• Enabling mana motuhake through a co-governed stormwater management forum with landowners, council, and iwi.

The paper will share the unique structures and approaches taken for co-design, through the co-governed forum, that have guided the development of an appropriate overarching plan that can enhance and improve existing water management concerns across the rohe.

The lessons learnt through this process are fundamentally applicable across the motu and will help to transition the poor reputation that land use change currently has with the degradation of our waterways. They will result in structures that either enable (where no other forums exist) or enhance ongoing opportunities for kōrero around wai / water management relating to the catchment/s. Doing so and delivering similar co-governed plans will further enable trust and governance of future activities to be delivered sensitively, equitably and enabling better outcomes for the water environments that we love and rely on.

The result for the specific application, being greater flood management benefits downstream, enabling the mauri of the wai to be maintained through the development and a sizeable opportunity to dent the current housing availability crisis across the city