“Our Māpua; our Ethos…what do our younger residents really want here? “
A panel from the Māpua School Whānau of :
- 2 Year 8 students – Polly Hyde & Bethany Tate ( who included comments from Year 5-8 students)
- a teacher – Bridget Chalmers and
- 3 parents – Taryn & Shaun McFadden
addressed this kaupapa at the monthly meeting – informing , entertaining and challenging those attending ( see photo)
The theme of what we want from future development and growth was continued with a presentation on “Future growth in the community” by Jan Heijs – an engineer/ infrastructure planner /consultant for local and regional councils
Recordings of both full presentations & the following open forum are accessible on MDCA’s Facebook Page which also includes links to Jan’s supporting power-point slides .
- Māpua School Panel members commented on :
What’s good about living here?
- A safe welcoming community where you meet neighbours and know everyone; everything is close and there is “ freedom to be children”
- Lots on offer and to do for children and families – the Māpua Youth club
- Wharf Jumping –a strong culture and “the place to be” in the warmer weather
What would we like to see more of / developed?
- A playground and activities with “ older kids’ things” eg confidence course; maze; big swings ; school pool becoming a community pool
- skate park updated to include different areas/activities for novices/ learners and experienced riders
- More interactive activities for children at the wharf –“more could happen down there” including family festivals such as “New Year’s Eve..”; children’s art around the area
- More preschool activities on at the Hall and safer fencing around the playground ( note that MDCA agreed later in the meeting to support the school in any application for such fencing)
- A big asphalt area for young children learning to ride bikes [ noted that Four Square was considering supporting such a project after feedback from the police]
- A safe off-lead area for dogs and their owners
- More events for children and more markets/ food-trucks with affordable kai
- Keeping college students years 9 &10 age –group involved in local community once attending schools “outside the village” so they keep the connections
How to keep in touch ?
- Everyone present noted their appreciation of this opportunity to hear from and work with our younger residents and their families/ educators
- It was noted that the most appropriate media for this age is Instagram ; the school agreed would transmit confirmed
2. Jan Heijs
- noted that “a lot of future growth” is planned with 100s of houses and new residents
- feared that council “not looking after local community housing needs” and that the current focus on “big houses on big lots” was not reflective of our community and character”
- concerned that with “business as usual”; if residents want to downsize they have to leave the community and that lots of families cannot afford housing in Māpua”
Suggesting that TDC
- has a choice on where / how to grow and could have a maximum rather than minimum size
- encourages community involvement in future development strategy
- reviews its development strategy to also support small affordable social housing ; rent-to-own houses
The presentation closed with a series of photographs of examples of social housing/smaller affordable communities; shared parking and green spaces
Jan was thanked for his humanity and courage to present alternative viewpoints
ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECTS
“Māpua Liveability Working Group “ – . Paul McIntosh
- expressed agreement that there should be a choice of land/living styles in the district
- aims to seek common themes and purposes as “ we want to come to TDC with suggestions and solutions “
- plan to share views with other community organizations so can ensure that “ we are all pulling in the same direction”
Reserve re-classification
Marion ( as Chair) thanked the councillors for the re-classification of Dominion Flats and Aranui Park as reserves
Cr MacKenzie noted the importance of providing “good background information” and that this was “ a good lesson on how to produce good submissions- quality not quantity”
COMMUNITY WELLBEING
- Māpua Willing Wheels –(MWW) – increased numbers of passengers over last month – working on establishing route for planned Motueka Community Bus including stops in Māpua
- Community Hub– local community directory now entered on the MDCA Website page with instructions for access on the Facebook page and a request for all organizations to visit and either check the accuracy of their entry or make contact to be included ( see separate article in this edition)
SOCIAL COMMUNICATION
- MDCA Facebook engagements – 250 on “Good Sorts” nomination for Kai Collective ; 78 on “Deferred Residential Zone” presentation by TDC at May 21 MDCA meeting
- Coastal News nominated as community “Good Sorts” for this month
FUTURE HOT TOPICS:
For the July 21 meeting – Forum on Alcohol and Drugs ( from medical/police perspectives)
Submitted by: Elena Meredith