Tasman District Council on Thursday Nov 16 unanimously supported a master-plan for the Mapua Waterfront area for the next 20 years, including a rejection of the Mapua Boat Club’s boat-ramp proposal. This follows a year of vigorous advocacy by the club for a new ramp, turnaround area and vehicle access along the southern side of Waterfront Park. The new ramp was intended to replace a small boat ramp on the north side of the wharf that was closed by the council last year.

The new Mapua Waterfront Master Plan was adopted quickly at the council’s November meeting, with no substantive discussion by councillors. This was because councillors had earlier been involved in wide-ranging discussions during a hearing committee stage and considered reports and submissions on an earlier draft of the plan. The committee, including one iwi representative, had before them reports arising from five weeks of public consultation and a total of 386 submissions from residents on various issues.

Shortly before the hearing committee’s report was tabled, Tasman Deputy Mayor Tim King told the council that the Mapua boat ramp issue was one of two on the agenda that had resulted in deeply divided opinions in the communities affected, the other issue being a proposal to demolish the historic grandstand at the old Golden Bay showgrounds. Mr King said that in both cases, whatever the resulting decisions, councillors were likely to leave half the community unhappy over the result.

Tabling the Mapua waterfront report, TDC strategic manager Sharon Flood said councillors were sympathetic to the needs of the Mapua boating community for a ramp. However, their “over-riding reasons for rejection of the club proposal included:
 The location of the council’s high pressure sewer main near the proposed ramp site;
 Marine health and safety issues;
 High estimated project costs;
 Parking issues and traffic congestion and
 The fact that nearly half the public submissions were strongly against the ramp plan.

The report said the hearing committee had delayed its hearing to allow the Mapua Boat Club more time to present revised drawings and costs for its proposal. However, it noted that the club did not support an option of a regional study to determine the best site for a new regional boat-ramp. The club’s “strong view was that proposed ramp (at Waterfront Park) was not a regional solution, but a Mapua solution only”, the report said.

Councillors were concerned about additional information about the proposed ramp site from the TDC harbour master, Mr Dan Cairney. He had raised issues over “the strong tidal currents in the area, the known build-up of logs and flood debris in the eddy there and the proximity of the proposed boat-ramp to Mapua Wharf”. The report noted that the wharf was “well-known as a popular location for wharf jumpers and swimmers”. The committee also noted that the boat-ramp would need to be wider than the planned 11 metres.

Councillors were particularly concerned about the proximity of the proposed ramp to the wastewater pumping station and main sewer from Mapua to the Bells’ Island treatment plant. Also in the same area was the council’s gravity sewer located along the existing rock sea wall.
“Both of these pipes are strategic council assets and, if broken, would create significant environmental contamination issues with raw sewage being directly discharged into a highly populated area and into an estuary of significance,” the report said.

The hearing committee said it felt Boat Club estimates of the cost of the proposed boat-ramp and associated works were “best case scenario costs,” “Its quote and the two quotes provided in support….did not take into consideration the location of the waste-water mains pipe or any associated mitigation measures and costs,” it said. A quote from the firm Opus of approximately $918,000 for the boat ramp was seen by the council as “more realistic, with the report noting that some of the works may be able to be carried out for less, depending on the contractor, but that other costs would need to be factored in with regard to the waste-water main”.

Another issue raised was the expected increase in boat and trailer traffic to the area, bringing with it potential congestion. The proposal was for boat owners to park vehicles and trailers in the carpark at Waterfront Park as well as additional parking on the council-owned remediated land on the western side of Tahi St.
“This would potentially create parking difficulties and conflicts during peak periods with other visitors to the Mapua Wharf,” the hearing report said.

Submitters to the draft plan were concerned over the loss of community space for families, added noise, traffic congestion, parking conflicts and pedestrian safety issues that a boat ramp would bring to the Waterfront Park site. “Many were also concerned about the contaminated nature of the site and the potential for toxic chemicals contained under the ground to leach into the estuary as a result of any soil disturbance.”

“A large number of children submitters from Mapua School did not support the boat ramp option and preferred to see the area used for a playground and other recreational facilities”, the report said.

The committee considered other local boat ramp facilities in the area and noted that “a significant number of submitters strongly opposed any upgrade of Grossi Pont boat-ramp, as they wanted the reserve kept for swimmers, walkers, picnickers and small craft, with minimal vehicle use”. Councillors recommended that Grossi Point boat ramp be left as is and retained as a launching site for only smaller craft.

In presenting the report, Ms Flood said that the committee had set short and medium term goals for the main areas covered by the Waterfront Plan. Other key areas dealt with in the plan were:
1. The area between the Golden Bear Brewery and the estuary: The plan proposes to rezone the area from commercial to a reserve, to restore the grassed area, add additional seating and ensure ongoing protection of the ngaio tree there.
2. Mapua Wharf area: Preserve the vibrancy of the Mapua Wharf and surrounding area as a visitor destination. In the short term the council will maintain ownership of buildings and land and enhance delineation of the shared zone. It will continue to work with Tamaha Sea Scouts to find a solution for their boat and gear storage needs
3. Waterfront Park: Council will retain the open park space and explore improvements to enhance community facilities and park use. In the short term, improvements include picnic tables, seating, barbecues, rubbish bins, shelter and investigation of a low-key playground.

 Grossi Point: While the committee agreed to minimal change to the Grossi Point Reserve, the council would undertake clearer identification of the areas for different activities and prevent car and trailer parking in the reserve area of Grossi Point.
 Another change was to work with iwi to develop an archaeological plan to “preserve and protect the cultural heritage of the reserve”.
 The plan proposes that boat owners using Grossi Point for launching boats will need to park their cars and boat trailers on council-owned remediated land further north on Tahi St

Main changes the council made to the earlier draft Mapua Waterfront Master Plan were decisions:
 Not to sell council-owned land or buildings at Mapua Wharf in the short term.
 Not to sell remediated council-owned land on the western side of Tahi St in the short term but to retain the land for parking in the short-term and as a future strategic asset
 Not to put a boat storage shed at Grossi Point for the Tamaha Sea Scout Group and to retain a boat storage area and facilities for the Scouts at the wharf. The Scout Group did not favour moving to Grossi Point.

Report written and submitted by David Mitchell

Mapua and Districts Community Association (MDCA) Annual Report

August 2016 – August 2017

Executive Summary

Tena koutou katoa – ngἇ mihi nui ki a koutou; ngἇ mana whenua ratou ko ngἇ mema ko ngἇ hoa ὄ tenei rohe! Greetings to all iwi, members and supporters of this region and THE Mapua and Districts Community Association.

A great thankyou to all who have worked for, contributed to and supported the significant range of projects and issues we have been involved with and addressed this year. Special thanks to our 3 TDC Ward Councillors – Trevor Norriss and Brian Ensor did not stand again this year and we thanked them for their years of commitment to our community’s affairs and well-being. Tim King, Anne Turley and Dean McNamara are our current ward councillors and we appreciate their regular attendance at our meetings and especially for their willingness to receive feedback and follow up many diverse queries and concerns in a very busy year.

Executive Committee members share the tasks of resourcing and running meetings, disseminating information, presenting MDCA viewpoints, lobbying the TDC and envisioning important community changes. Sincere thanks to you all for a great year and to those who are standing down, take our appreciation with you. We hope that you will stay involved as members! At our last AGM we thanked and farewelled Neville Bibby (as Treasurer), Graeme Stradling (as Secretary) and John Fountain and have benefitted from their ongoing input as members.

Other members have taken responsibility for leading subcommittees, representing the Association on community wide bodies and providing researched information and resources. Thank you all – time is a precious resource and we appreciate your willingness to give this so freely. We also value the connections and relationships with a range of other community-focused organizations such as Mapua and Districts Business Association, the Mapua Community Hall Association, Mapua School, the Mapua Boat Club and other community associations.

As an Association we have made submissions on the Mapua Wharf/Waterfront TDC land development and proposal and The TDC Long Term Plan.

We recognize that there is no “ Association viewpoint” on most issues and have encouraged robust discussions and presented multiple suggestions to reflect the diversity within our community

A wide range of speakers have formally presented at our monthly meetings. Input from individuals and other community groups keep our membership abreast of current thinking, strategies and affairs.

Projects covered this year include:

• Hosting the “ Meet the Candidates” Meeting for the local authority elections
• Relocating the Boat Ramp ( ongoing debate and consultation, including a poll of the membership)
• Restoring and caring for Wetlands and Estuaries in our rohe
• Mapua Waterfront developments with a particular focus on providing input to the TDC review of future developments of their land in the area
• Subdivisions, new and planned, including impacts on neighbours- with a strong focus on water
• Footpaths and roading, safety and landscaping
• Establishing and extending a Website and Facebook presence
• Updating the Constitution
• Taking responsibility for monitoring the AEDs ( Defibrillators) in our area

These as well as the regular areas of our work are reported on in the rest of this report by those Executive Committee members responsible for each particular portfolio.

 

Treasurer and Member Services Report (by Aileen Connell)

 For 2015-2016 year we had 43 paid members. At the end of the 2017 financial year (30 June 2017) we had 139 members this includes our 3 life members Hugh Gordon (inducted into this group in December 2016), Wilma Tansley and Bill Williams (who sadly passed away while this report was being compiled). In the past 12 months we have tidied up the membership list. We know who are members are and how to get in touch with them. All payments are tracked back to the receipt book.  We use the most up to date list for each mail out.

Our constitution has been updated to include changes to match what we do! We are in the process of lodging this with Incorporated Societies section of Companies Office

We have 3 automatic payments set up for the secretary and social media honoraria and one for the Mapua Hall (for our 2 meetings a month). We also completed a leaflet drop in letterboxes promoting the MDCA, this was part of our agreed strategy to promote the MDCA and make sure as many people as possible where given the chance to know we exist! We now use electronic banking for as many transactions as we can, this both helps us and those that we are paying. It is also making it easier for people to pay their membership.

As of the 30th June 2017 we have $13,757.45 in our bank account. Our income for the general running of the MDCA is from a TDC grand and membership fee. All income for Dominion Flats is from grants.

Summary

	General Fund	Dominion Flats	Waterfront Park
30 Jun 2017	$3,209.59	$10,547.86	$0.00
Income	$4,918.30	$23,700.00	$0.00
Expenditure	$5,679.02	$20,653.25	$10,000
1 Jul 2016	$3,970.31	$7,500.11	$10,000

A summary of the accounts will be sent to David Beatson for review

 

Environment – Dominion Flats (by Helen Bibby)

This has been another good year for the planting and beautification of Dominion Flats even though it was such a dry summer. The growth on the plants during the autumn and early winter has been fantastic and plantings are really showing up amongst the tall grass.

The project continues to track along the path of intensive planting for the first five years, to be followed by five years of secondary planting, with an end vision of a patch of easily accessible native bush that is a haven for birds and other fauna, with a stream meandering through and that is a peaceful sanctuary for the community.

We have been successful with grant applications again and have received another $10,000 from Rata Foundation and another $4,500 from Pub Charities. Do you know that since this project

started we have had over $43,000 in grants from Rata Foundation, Pub Charities, Network Tasman Trust, Deloitte, Sargood Bequest, Greenwood Trust, Mapua/Ruby Bay Trust, MDCA, Fonterra Grassroots Fund, JS Watson Trust, World Wildlife Fund, Waimea Intermediate School, and Coastal News?

It is wonderful to see organisations and people willing to help make our country green again and we are extremely grateful. We have had practical assistance from many locals organizations including Waimea Intermediate, Crombie Lockwood, Tamaha Scout Group, Whenua Iti, Mapua School, Jonathan Kennett and friends from Wellington, and NMIT DOC cadets. We have had a large kahikatea from The Big Plant Depot, plants from Nelmac, large numbers of plant protectors passed on to the project and plants grown from locally sourced trees given by community members. All this adds up to a huge amount that cannot be given a dollar number.

A very small group go each Tuesday morning to work, mostly freeing up plants and keeping the tracks useable. Anyone is welcome to join in as it is a huge job although some of the latest grant money is specifically to help with this. We have good interaction with the TDC and get our share of money, help and advice from them, particularly from Richard Hilton who is always enthusiastic and keen to help.

 

Roads and Footpaths (by Wayne Chisnall)

 The focus on footpaths in the Mapua area has been on the following during 2016-17:

• Developing a safe passage for pedestrians from the foot of Mapua Drive around the Country Store site to the Mapua School
  • Considerable discussion with all parties was held during FY16 but the School and Country Store property owner came to an agreement with the TDC this year to site the crossing just in from the corner of Mapua Drive and Aranui Road. It will be a double kea crossing with a refuge in the existing island. This was not universally accepted by the community as the safest option but the School has signed off on it and will manage it before and after school using flags and swinging arms.
  • The footpath around the store and the crossing have been designed and put out to tender. We expect it to be constructed in the latter half of 2017

• Pedestrian refuge crossing on Aranui Road near the library.
  • • This has been designed and put out to tender. We expect it to be constructed in the latter half of 2017

• Higgs Road footpath from Lionel Place to the Mapua Drive roundabout
  • This has been designed and put out to tender for constructionin the latter half of 2017

• Seaton Valley Road footpath
  • The TDC is still finalising the 2017-18 footpath programme so have yet to confirm whether this will fit within the available budget

• Mapua Drive path to Higgs Reserve
  • The initial design exceeded budget due to the need for a physical barrier to protect path users. TDC is looking at ways to reduce cost to fit within available budget.

The focus for 2017-18 is as follows:

• Seeing the completion of all the projects above cognisant that there is real pressure on contractors due to the work associated with the Kaikoura earthquake
• Completing the Seaton Valley Stream footpath from the Old Mill Pathway around the estuary and across the northern end of the 102 Aranui Road subdivision to Moreland Place. There have been some problems negotiated access across private roads.
• The Jessie Street – Aranui Road pathway became a possibility with the purchase of the associated property for development.

Social Media 2016-17 Annual Report

Submitted by: Tim Hawthorne, MDCA Social Media Manager

MDCA’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/MapuaCommunityAssociation), launched in February, 2016, continues to perform strongly and serve as an important communications medium for the Association. Our FB page is now “liked” and followed by 676 people, a high number for a Facebook small community page. We post matters of community interest on the page on average 2 times per week and reach an average of 500 to 1000 people for each post. In 2016-17, we posted 119 items and were viewed over 50,000 times. Our June, 2017 posts alone were viewed over 12,000 times.

Some of our posts reached over 3000 people in the Top of the South with the assistance of Facebook “promotion” or advertising, which places a MDCA post on a local FB user’s page even if they don’t “follow” our page. Total expenses to “promote” our FB posts from Oct 2016 – June 2017 totaled $224.43, at an average promotion cost of $10 per post. Further distribution of the Association’s message is via posts on the local social media network “Neighbourly.” Our most successful post (“Please Vote on How to Honour the Mapua Aquarium”) reached over 9,600 people.

Additionally, our new MDCA website (www.ourmapua.org), established in early 2016, has been upgraded to showcase the MDCA’s Facebook posts on the front page, so that non-Facebook

members can read what’s happening immediately in our community on the internet. The website also serves as the repository of all the Association’s monthly meeting notes, agendas, minutes, and correspondence, under the “Archives” drop down menu heading

 

Mapua Waterfront Park and Advisory Group (on behalf of Trish Smith)

Trish Smith took over chairing this subcommittee and co-ordinated a wider working group to ensure that the $10,000 grant from the Rata Foundation for purchasing picnic-tables and

children’s play equipment has been spent. Work is proceeding on building the tables and hopefully installing them and the equipment in conjunction with TDC Parks and Reserves in October this year.

With such diverse views on future development in the park, subcommittee members met with Boat Club and Sea Scout representatives to determine any “ shared vision” on Park/boat-ramp development

Trish Smith also took over the representation of MDCA on the Mapua Waterfront Advisory Group from Elena Meredith and now shares this role with Martyn Barlow

 

Appreciation 

Thank you again to all those who have been involved in these projects and all the voluntary time and thought you have given. Much of this work is “underground” and often not acknowledged. Without you all we couldn’t do what we do!! There will be a new Executive Committee for the coming year and no doubt new challenges as well as satisfactions with a job well done. We look forward to that……

 

Noho ora mai ra koutou Elena Meredith

(Chairperson on behalf of the Executive Committee)

The Bill Marris Room at the Mapua Hall was full for the July 10th meeting of the Mapua and District Community Association meeting. Community members had come mainly to hear TDC staff talk about water access issues for Mapua and the range of proposed options for boat access in Mapua that Catherine MacFaul had gathered in the last few months.

Lindsay Mckenzie TDC CEO, opened the discussion then handed over to Cath who outlined the background to the TDC review and the subsequent range of options which are now attracting submissions. These close on the 14 August.
Sharon Flood then spoke about the submission process noting that TDC will have an Information Tent in the wharf area on 29th July between 10- 12.30 (probably in the hall if wet).

TDC Report – Mapua Waterfront Options

A wide range of community issues were canvassed at our June meeting with many focused on water!!
Councillor Tim King presented a potted summary of the rationale for and developments relating to the Waimea Dam – noting the significant TDC meeting which was held June 14^th to determine if this would proceed.

The results of the polling of the membership relating to Waterfront Park development were tabled with some discussion. It was noted that the TDC proposal resulting from their consultation on Waterfront Land will be available for public consultation in “ early to mid-July” and Cath McFaul ( the contracted consultant) will be presenting at the Association’s July 10^th monthly meeting.

Concerns were raised relating to the repeat flooding of Mapua School and the Association will explore this as a major focus in a future meeting this year. Members of the Waterfront Park Upgrade Subcommittee met with Richard from TDC Parks and Reserves to explore the future placement of picnic tables and children’s playground equipment purchased from the Rata Foundation Grant.

Safety and security in our community were also raised considering possible CCTV Camera placements; police presence as well as the community’s own “ watchdog” roles. This will also be the focus of a future meeting with local police and neighbourhood support groups invited to present.

We are excited about the response to the MDCA Logo competition ( for which entries closed June 25) There are certainly some talented artists out there!! The top 4 entries will be voted on by membership at the July meeting and the winner presented with the $150 prize money at the August meeting.

Members were encouraged to consider offering to be nominated for the 2017/18 Executive Committee to be voted on at the AGM August 14^th . All are warmly invited to attend.

Finally we responded to a suggestion that the many volunteers in our district be honoured and Helen Bibby did so in this way:
What a Community…

Following the nasty break in at the Mapua Bakery the very efficient grape vine told me how the community rallied to show their support to those affected which reminded me just what a caring community we live in.

At the last Association meeting we discussed whether it was possible to acknowledge all those who ,in one way or another, volunteer their services to the community. The outcome of the discussion was that we would be overwhelmed by numbers, as so many people do their bit to make the wheels go round using skills, coaching, manpower, a listening ear,or a multitude of other ways to help their fellow man.

So, instead of a function (run by volunteers) in the hall ( managed by volunteers) let’s all say a big thank you via the printed word ( Coastal News put together by more volunteers) to the many people in our extended community from the kindly neighbour over the fence to the fire-officers who race off in the dead of night and all those in between, for all the help and kindness we show to one another.

What a privilege to live in this place.

Please join us in ensuring that we have an ongoing voice and input into this community we love – the next Association meeting is Monday July 10^th  7 pm in the Bill Marris Room – all welcome !!