Boost for Hutt health services
Lower Hutt is to get a new – and large – medical centre. It’s to be built on the former bowling club land off Witako St, adjacent to the Hutt Hospital campus. Resource consent has been granted for a two-storey building with a gross floor area of 3,398m2 (that’s the equivalent of a large supermarket), which will include GP consulting rooms; physio, pharmacy and dental areas; a health food shop, a cafe and child care centre. There will be 133 off-street carparks.
The developer is buying the land from Hutt City Council, which will go a long way towards offsetting the cost of the regional bowling centre council built on Walter Mildenhall Park.
Your invitation to see inside the new Events Centre
The wraps are off, the scaffolding is down and on Saturday you’re invited to come and have a look inside Lower Hutt’s new Events Centre and earthquake-strengthened/refurbished Town Hall.
The Events Centre opening will begin this Saturday 14 July at 10.15am, with entertainment between 10.45am and 2pm including: Hutt Valley Ukulele Orchestra, bands and kapa haka groups from Lower Hutt high schools, local circus perfomers and food trucks.
The bad weather has hampered completion of the finishing touches to Riddford Gardens (to the south of the council buildings), and the new water feature in the park is not yet operational.
Building boom includes apartments, backpackers
There is a huge amount of development going on in the city – in fact $237 million dollars worth of work from 1307 building consents in the year until the end of May. Projects in the Central Ward include:
- Conversion of the former Baseline building in Dudley St into a motel and back-packers with occupancy for 100 people.
- Relocation of the PetVet Hospital from Pharazyn St into Rutherford St
- An application by JNS Construction to build 14 townhouses and a standalone 4-bedroom house on 47 (council’s former Te Awaikairangi/‘Elephant House’ site) and 49 Laings Rd. The drawing above is an architect’s impression of the eight Terrace townhouses on the corner site.
- Consent has been granted for 39 residential units to be developed on the first, second and third floors of the 5-storey building at 14 Laings Rd (across Queens Drive from the main council building). The units will be for clients of Oasis Network, which provides peer support and advocacy services to those experiencing mental health stress and anxiety. One of the units will be for an on-site manager.
Fired up over the future of boards/panels
For anyone interested in how we elect councillors to represent us, you’ll soon get a chance to object to or support a recommendation made this week – that we stick with the wards, and not councillors elected ‘at large’.
Councillors were unanimous that insufficient support had been shown for a mixed model of election (six councillors elected in six wards, plus another six elected across the city). And elections ‘at large’ bring downsides, including greater potential for intrusion of party politics.
Things got heated at this week’s Policy and Regulatory Committee meeting, especially during the Public Comment section, when the topic was whether it was fair that parts of the city got to elect community boards, while others had appointed community panels (albeit with a community fund of $150,000 to spend).
I’ve written a blog on the topic, here. If you’ve got an opinion on the issues, I’d love to hear it.
Send me an email – simon.edwards@huttcity.govt.nz
Sportsville could have solar panel roof
More than half of the Fraser Park Sportsville and Community Hub is now completed, including the first floor and roof. The six squash courts – which are coming from Europe – are now being built. Bad weather and resource constraints has pushed out the finishing date to December this year. Total fundraising over and above Council’s grants for the $13.1 million project has now reached $3.22m.
The Community Facilities Trust is negotiating with two electricity generators/retailers for lease of the Sportsville hub’s roof for a solar panel farm. The rental, capitalised over 20 years, could make a significant dent in the $627,000 still to be raised in the community by way of grants and sponsorship.
Pushing for Housing NZ to get on with building on empty sites
On the housing front, Council set itself a target of 300 new dwellings built in the city each year, as we push for a population of 110,000 by 2032 (growth of 1% each year helps enable the council to keep rate increases to the rate of the local government cost inflation – the LGCI). For the last three years, the numbers of new dwellings built has been – 338 (year to June 2015), 391 (2016), 332 (2017).
Housing NZ has announced plans to build 330 new homes and refurbish 383 homes in the Hutt Valley – most of them in Lower Hutt. It’s just a matter of persuading HNZ to get on with it and fill those empty sections around Naenae and Epuni.
Cone of silence on roosters
Council is currently consulting on a new set of Animal By-laws, which have as a core principle that people are allowed to keep an animal if they can show it doesn’t create a nuisance to others. About the only significant change is that a new rule will come in that no rooster may be kept in any urban area, unless written permission has been granted by Council.
You might think roosters would hardly be an issue in a city like Lower Hutt but in the last year there have been 16 complaints about roosters crowing, and another six incidents of roosters on the loose.
DATES TO KEEP IN MIND:
– If you have a dog, don’t forget to register/renew its registration before 31 July. It’s more expensive to do so after that date.
– The city’s annual Winter Festival is underway, with events including lantern and mask making, a talent quest, community labyrinth and opportunities to light up your wheels for a parade at the final festival party on Saturday 18 August. Find out more by clicking here.
– If you enjoyed last year’s Highlight – Carnival of Lights, mark 19-23 October on your calendar. They’re the dates for Highlight 2018.
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