Bob Clarkson's plans for a big industrial and residential development behind the Tauriko Service Station have been thrown into confusion by the announcement that State Highway 29 could be re-routed through his land.
"I was absolutely stunned, this is bloody ridiculous," he told the Bay of Plenty Times after revealing yesterday that his land was back in contention.
Mr Clarkson said he found out last Friday that his land was being viewed as an option by the New Zealand Transport Agency - four and a-half years after being told that they were not wanting to put the highway through his land.
"Why did they not tell me, before I spent $800,000, that my land was still on their agenda?"
He said that when Tauranga City councillors heard about it later on Friday they "blew their tops".
The agency responded that it had met Mr Clarkson on several occasions this year, at which it outlined how it was looking at all the route options for Tauriko.
Bay of Plenty highway manager Niclas Johansson said the timeframe for a decision on the highway alignment had been extended to allow their investigation to occur in tandem with the SmartGrowth review.
SmartGrowth is a joint councils' planning study to decide where in the Western Bay future residential and industry growth takes place.
The issue came to a head at yesterday's meeting of the Tauranga council when deputy mayor Kelvin Clout successfully urged councillors to put a timetable around fast-tracking the planning needed to achieve an additional supply of land outside the SmartGrowth process.
The council yesterday agreed by a vote of 7-3 for staff to report back by November 20 on a timetable to fast-track planning changes.
Cr Clout also successfully called for meetings with the agency to better understand the realignment options for SH29, and with the council's SmartGrowth partners to clarify concerns and identify possible solutions for completing the Western Bay's settlement pattern review in a timely manner.
The council's stance has been interpreted as threatening the existence of SmartGrowth.
Tauranga's initiative will be debated at a meeting of SmartGrowth's committee on October 29.