The University of Waikato will pay nearly $1.4 million for a 99-year lease on part of a Tauranga reserve where it plans to build a marine facility. 

The marine research and education facility will be established at Marine Park in Sulphur Point after years of controversy surrounding the future of the site. 

The new facility will replace the university’s Coastal Marine Field Station and include research laboratories, classrooms, and public engagement spaces. 

The lease was signed in July last year in the last few months of a Crown commission’s term governing Tauranga City Council, which began in 2021. 

Initially, the lease agreement was not going to be made public until the lease ended in 99 years. 

At a February 10 meeting, councillors requested that the lease be made public but the university refused at that point, citing commercial sensitivity. 

The document was released at a council meeting on Monday as part of a comprehensive overview of the decision to reclassify part of Marine Park provided to the elected council. 

In 2017, Tauranga City Council was approached by the university to work towards establishing a research and educational facility at Sulphur Point. 

Marine Park at Sulphur Point where the marine research facility will be built. Photo / George Novak 

In 2018, the council attempted to revoke the reserve status of a chunk of Marine Park, but was blocked by then Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage in 2020. 

The council instead reclassified 7000sq m of Marine Park land from recreation reserve to local purpose reserve in 2022, enabling the facility to be built there. 

There was a tender process for the lease and the university was the only applicant. 

University of Waikato deputy vice-chancellor Professor Alister Jones. Photo / Andrew Warner 

University of Waikato deputy vice-chancellor Professor Alister Jones told the meeting he had been working with coastal science chairman Professor Chris Battershill for 12 years to find a permanent home for marine science programmes. 

The university planned to create something “truly unique” for Tauranga that engaged the public directly with marine research projects. 

“There wouldn’t be another place like this globally.” 

The facility would enable the university to focus on climate change and sustainability as well as aquaculture, which would “contribute significantly to the economy”, Jones said. 

The Government had a “strong growth agenda” for aquaculture to reach $3 billion in revenue per year by 2035. The university and Bay of Plenty were “key players” in driving that economic growth, he said. 

The university was working through the cost and engineering requirements of the facility and was due to report back to council in June as per the terms of the lease, Jones said. 

Tauranga Deputy Mayor Jen Scoular at a previous Tauranga City Council meeting. Photo / Alisha Evans 

Deputy Mayor Jen Scoular said the lease was not a “big return” financially on “prime land”. 

Jones said the lease of $1.2m plus GST ($1.38m) was based on a commercial valuation of the land and the university was paying as if it were a profit-making organisation, despite being a Crown entity. 

It was also reclaimed land and in terms of value the university would have to “sink more into the ground” to build it and remediate contamination, he said. 

The council also had some “clear expectations” of the university under the agreement, Jones said. 

The lease would be paid in instalments with the final amount due no later than three years after construction began, according to the council report. 

Councillor Glen Crowther said it seemed like a great initiative for Tauranga and potentially the world, but he had concerns about the process the council undertook. 

Councillor Glen Crowther. Photo / Alisha Evans 

It was “hard to believe” the council embarked on a 100-year plan without doing a cost-benefit analysis and the quality of the community engagement was “deeply concerning”. 

“I have a big concern also around the secrecy around it. We all knew it was university; it was a tailor-made solution. It was a fait accompli that it would happen.” 

In 2018 council held consultation and public open days about the revocation process. In May and June 2022 there was consultation about the reclassification and submitters spoke at meeting on June 27. 

In 2023 there were community protests, including a petition to “Save Marine Park” from people concerned the green-space reserve would be lost forever. 

A complaint was received by the Ombudsman relating to consultation undertaken as part of the reclassification process. 

The Ombudsman released his opinion last July, finding that the council had met the obligations under the Local Government and Reserves Act before making any decision. 

Councillor Hautapu Baker asked, to give effect to the partnership with mana whenua, what “direct benefits” the university would be providing given it was a long-term lease and could mean “further alienation” for them. 

Jones said iwi chairs were supportive of the research across the region and the university worked directly with iwi. 

“It will add partnership as opposed to further alienation.” 

Director of the university’s Tauranga campus Joseph Macfarlane said guiding principles with iwi were the research facility would be for the benefit of the land and the sea, and it was an intergenerational commitment. 

It was anticipated that the facility will be opened in 2027/28. 

- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.