In four years’ time, Rangitahi Peninsula will be a small bustling community.
Construction of stage one of the multimillion-dollar residential development will begin in April with the building of roads, infrastructure and a two-lane bridge linking the peninsula with Opotoru Rd.
Sophie Peacocke, who with fiancé Sam Laity is selling the sections on her family’s land, says the aim is to have all of the properties in stage one sold by the end of March.
Of 89 residential sites, 53 have been sold, 14 remain and the rest are currently undergoing negotiation.
Covenants on the properties require owners to begin building within 18 months of getting title, and to have finished building within a year.
The titles will be issued in June 2018 after the construction of infrastructure has been completed.
“Over the next 15-16 months we will be working on the different stages of construction: earthworks, the bridge, and roading and infrastructure.
“In four years’ time the houses will be built, people will be living here.”
Sophie says the timeframe in the covenants ensure that the community establishes “rather quickly. So it’s altogether, it’s done”.
“We don’t want to have people building over seven years or so.
“This attracts a certain type of buyer, people who are ready to live somewhere new. So it will add to Raglan reasonably quickly.”
Altogether, there will be five stages to the development of Rangitahi Peninsula – a total of 500 properties. The project is expected to take up to 20 years.
The sections in stage one range in size from 385 square metres to 1356sqm, and range in price from $200,000 to $400,000.
Sophie says all the waterfront sections sold first, and the remaining sections “look more over the mountain and into the farmland”. Most of the sections adjoin reserve areas, “so there is plenty of space”.
The sections officially went on the market on January 16 but Sophie says she has been showing them to locals since October.
The buyers are mainly “local families who have been looking for a long time or families from Hamilton who have been wanting to move out to Raglan for years”.
“So that’s really cool, there will be lots of kids.”
She says the majority of buyers plan to live in Raglan rather than build a holiday home.
“We haven’t advertised in Auckland at all, so people (from Auckland) who have bought are people who have been here on holiday and heard about it.”
Other conditions in the covenants include a maximum build of 40 per cent of the lot coverage, and fences are to have 50 per cent permeability – “so you can see though – with a maximum height of 1.2 metres on the street front.
“We encourage people to grow their own vegetables and build a garden, to have the space to do that. Not build boundary to boundary,” says Sophie.
“We want neighbours to interact with each other and not have a fortress around them.”
Developer Dave Peacocke, Sophie’s dad, agrees that the subdivision is about building a community that is inclusive. “It’s about encouraging interaction.”
While the covenants also forbid cats, chickens and livestock, he says there are plans for community gardens and areas for commercial growers, including an orchard, “on the condition that some of the produce will be sold locally”.
Dave says the two-lane bridge to the peninsula is being built by Fulton Hogan and includes footpaths on both sides.
The design will be released for viewing when it has been finalised.
He says the development’s sewage system will not connect with Raglan’s existing infrastructure but has its own pipeline straight to the wastewater treatment station.
Within the stage one residential area there are three commercial zones of 1102sqm, 1305sqm and 1800sqm, to make a village centre.
The Peacockes are considering developing the larger property as a starting point, with development of the other sites happening “when people are living here and it is established”.
The village centre could include retail and office space, cafes and apartments.
Inger Vos
