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.

It took more than two hours of at times heated debate on Wednesday night before a majority of Hutt City councillors voted to stick with current representation arrangements – at least until March 2021.

Two councillors – Chris Milne and Leigh Sutton – said the move was “kicking the can down the road” and failing to confront the issue of second tier representation inequality.  But the majority believed the city’s four community panels, set up 18 months ago, haven’t yet been properly tested, and it was too early to consider replacing the three long-standing community boards  in the southern parts of the city with panels.

On what basis we elect/appoint our councillors, community board and community panel members  – and whether we should even have boards or panels – tends to be a big yawn for many people.  But given these elected folk steer the policy and priorities for the spending of $124.8 million of ratepayers’ money, the topic is worth some attention.

Firstly, the part that tends to cause less controversy – electing councillors.  We currently have six geographical wards in the city, each of about 16,000-18,000 people, who get to elect two councillors to represent them.  The Mayor is elected ‘at large’ (or by the city as a whole).

For the first time in many years, the idea that we should elect some of our councillors ‘at large’ gained traction in two rounds of consultation surveys.  Of nearly 660 residents who took part in a Citizen’s Panel email or Facebook survey running throughout June, 45% wanted to stick with wards.  Another 44% wanted one councillor to be elected by each of the six wards, and the other six to be elected across the city.  (I.e. 51% favoured half ‘at large’ or all ‘at large’ elections.).  This mirrors another survey earlier in the year.

But in another survey of 400 randomly selected residents by Peter Glen Research, 55% wanted to keep ward councillors, 29% wanted the mixed model and 7% ‘at large’ only (9% ‘didn’t know).

The decision by the Policy and Regulatory Committee was unanimous – we’d stick with six wards electing two councillors each.

It’s clear there is growing interest among residents to have a great say in the make-up of the council – i.e. to be able to vote for a ward councillor, plus six others.  But as I said at Wednesday night’s meeting, they aren’t yet a clear majority and elections at large bring significant downsides.  Chief among the disadvantages is that it’s much harder, time-consuming  – and more expensive – to campaign across the city than in just one ward.  So that tends to put restrictions on the kinds of people who can stand (e.g. the well off, the retired), or those standing feel compelled to join groups or ‘tickets’.  I think most voters prefer their councillors to make decisions on the facts before them, rather than being guided by party political ideologies.

Now to the real bone of contention.  If a clear message can be extracted from all the surveys it’s residents’ desire to be treated equally.

Since the 1989 forced amalgamation, Petone, Eastbourne and Wainuiomata have had elected community boards.  For the last 18 months, the Western, Eastern, Northern and Central Wards have had appointed community panels. Their members forgo the level of remuneration paid to community board members, and instead the equivalent amount of money is available for the panels to allocate to worthwhile community assets in their wards.  On average, that’s about $150,000 to distribute per panel per triennium.

The survey results indicate Petone, Wainuiomata and Eastbourne people value their community boards.  The panels and how they work don’t yet have a high profile, and it’s not clear whether the support for the community boards would reduce if their constituents knew they could as an alternative be represented by a panel which also has $150,000 to spend on local projects.

A whole lot of other issues are in the mix.  Why should three areas in the city get to elect a board, when other parts do not?   Should we elect, rather than appoint, panel members – and if we did, would enough people stand for election given the level of remuneration is fairly token.

Some councillors – Lisa Bridson in the lead – said we were approaching the issue the wrong way.  It was a debate about fair representation at the second tier level, and there should be equality.  The matter of a community fund to spend should be considered a separate issue.

My argument was that if some parts of the city wanted to pay people (via their rates)  to sit on a community board, which in reality have few powers, that was their business.  But other parts of the city which did not have that model (but still have panel members with which they can bring local issues to council’s attention), it’s fair there is an equal amount of rates money available to benefit their ward.

The decision was to stick with the current mix of community boards and community panels, until a review starting March 2021. By then we’d have more information on which to judge the success of panels.    But as the Committee Chair Margaret Cousins made clear in two years’ time we will have to confront some thorny issues, including why Eastbourne (pop. 5,500) is entitled to its own community board.

The vote on keeping the status quo on existing second tier representation arrangements, with a review starting March 2021 was:

For – Crs Leigh Sutton, Michael Lulich, Simon Edwards, Campbell Barry, David Bassett, Margaret Cousins and Mayor Ray Wallace.

Against – Crs Chris Milne, Tui Lewis, Josh Briggs and Lisa Bridson.

The ‘dog-leg’ option or straight as an arrow?  Connect with Melling Link or with Queens Drive?

Locals are being asked for their views on what traffic improvements and a new bridge at Melling should look like.

After considering more than 40 interchange designs, the NZ Transport Agency/Greater Wellington/Hutt City Council Riverlink project team has short-listed three top options.

They’re described at this web page (https://haveyoursay.gw.govt.nz/riverlink) but it can be hard to get your head around the pluses and minuses of each one.  If you’ve got questions, experts from the project team will be at the Dowse (Sat 12 May, 10am-7pm, Wed. 16 May, 4-7pm), for the next three Saturdays at the Riverbank Market, and at various times at Queensgate.  They can give you more detailed information.

All three top options allow State Highway Two through traffic to flow freely under fly-overs, with no traffic lights or roundabouts to contend with.

Without wishing to steer public feedback in any particular direction, the option of the bridge and interchange that connects with Melling Link (i.e. the route of the current Melling bridge) has some disadvantages.  It’s not as effective for flood protection purposes because the bridge will be at the narrowest part of the river.  It would also spell quite a bit of traffic disruption during the construction phase as the new bridge is built around the existing access points.

The two other options to connect SH2 and Western Hills traffic with the city centre link into Queens Drive, and so the existing Melling Bridge could continue to be used while the new one is built.

One of the Queens Drive options has a dog-leg layout and three sets of traffic lights.  A traffic engineer has said the lights allow ‘pulsing’ of traffic flows at different times, traffic splitting and better queuing capacity and an NZTA spokesman has confirmed this dog-leg has “marginal” traffic advantages.

The big advantage of the straight line design of raised interchange and bridge is that it is simple and elegant, and thus for motorists – especially visitors to this gateway to our city – it will likely be easier to ‘read’ and navigate.

Some might wonder why the bridge and interchange can’t be further south, delivering traffic in and out of the very centre of the CBD.  That answer is that modelling showed the centre city streets could not handle that level of traffic and would soon clog up.

Besides, part of the Riverlink Project is the option of building a pedestrian and cyclist footbridge across the river, linking a new Melling train station and the heart of the CBD.  Don’t forget the Melling station has to be shifted further south from its current position because the land is need for the new interchange and off/on ramps.

The NZTA’s board is expected to make a final decision on the business case for the new Melling bridge and interchange in November this year.

Crucial to this is the Coalition Government’s Policy Statement (GPS) on transport, which you’ll recall emphasises a greater focus (and therefore spending!) on traffic safety, public transport, cycling and walking, and less focus on large-scale motorway projects and National’s ‘roads of national significance’.

The Melling and Riverlink project, in many ways, fits this prescription.  Cyclists and pedestrians are well catered for, and in regards to safety we are removing an intersection where highway speed traffic conflicts with vehicles moving in and out of 50km/hr streets (and where too many people run red lights).

As well, we’re told all three of the new bridge options are being built high enough to allow the Melling Line to be extended further north, perhaps to the bottom of Kelson hill, should that be considered viable in the future.

So there’s a lot at stake – don’t forget to have your say.

An 11th hour announcement from NZ Bus that it will keep running – at least for now – the Airport Flyer and commuter bus routes 80, 90, 91, 92 and 93 took the heat out of last night’s public meeting organised by Labour MP Ginny Anderson and city councillor Campbell Barry.  

But it wasn’t the only piece of news on public transport in the Hutt Valley, with confirmation a fare increase of 3% is coming in on July 15, as well as new discounts, more frequent off-peak trains and an end to fare penalties when passengers using a Snapper card transfer from one connecting bus service to another within a 30 minute window.

About 100 people packed the Petone Rugby Clubrooms to hear from speakers including the deputy chair of the regional council’s sustainable transport committee Daran Ponter and Mt Roskill MP Michael Wood.

The regional council had only been informed by NZ Bus earlier yesterday that, after a review, it had decided it would not stop running the Airport Flyer and the Valley’s five popular commuter bus services.  These are services run on a commercial basis (i.e. unlike most other public transport services, there is no subsidy by ratepayers).

But just as Cr Ponter welcomed the news from NZ Bus as much as anyone else in the room, there were a couple of qualifications to the announcement.   Cr Ponter pointed out that as there is no subsidy for these bus services, an operator can withdraw them at any time they wish and only needs to give the regional council a fortnight’s notice of an intention to do so.

Moreover, he noted that NZ Bus owner Infratil has indicated to the Stock Exchange that it is reviewing whether or not to retain ownership of the bus company.

Little wonder that Mayor Ray Wallace sought confirmation in writing from NZ Bus it would keep the Hutt services going for now, also noting that the council was working to help the company find land in Lower Hutt for a depot.

Meanwhile, the changes coming in on July 15 include:

–  a general 3% fare increase on buses and trains, the first increase in five years, Cr Ponter said;

• 50% discount for all school students
• 25% discount for all tertiary students
• 50% discount for people with disabilities
• 25% discount for off-peak services
• New concessions for people who connect to a train service by using a bus via RailPlus monthly cards
• off peak rail services every 20 minutes rather than the current 30 minutes

Other changes from June 17

• free bus to bus transfers anywhere where there is a connecting service when using Snapper across the region
• a new Saturday service for Belmont on Saturdays
• a new weekday route for Riverstone Terraces
• new buses and livery, including roll-out of the first 10 double decker electric buses on Wellington routes.

Lower Hutt welcomed 159 new New Zealand citizens on Thursday.

Four or five times a year, Hutt City Church in Marsden St is filled with people from all corners of the earth, and their friends and supporters, as they make an oath of affirmation or oath of allegiance to the Queen.  It’s the final step in their becoming citizens of New Zealand.

Mayor Ray Wallace officiates with Mayoress Linda Goss-Wallace.  As he always tells them, he knows what it’s like to come from a different country and to make New Zealand a home.  That’s what his family did when they came from Scotland when he was young.

Ready to make the oath were people from 28 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Denmark, Fiji, Great Britain, India, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden and the USA.

Ray urged them to become part of the community, but to retain their own traditions and never forget where they came from.  “We are all enriched by your decision to live in New Zealand.”

Fairfield Waters is the most ambitious residential development that Urban Plus Ltd has taken on to date but even before finishing touches are completed, all but one of the 20 new homes have been sold.

The mix of two-storey townhouses, single storey homes and two-storey terraced housing is off Summit Rd in Fairfield, on a new private road officially unveiled as Glen Evans Crescent by the late mayor’s wife Barbara on February 27.  Two of the couple’s sons, Mike and Geoff, were also present.

It’s fitting that there is now a street named after one of our greatest mayors.

Mayor Ray Wallace said Glen, who was mayor from 1986-1995, was “one of the city’s champions”.  He had a very deep understanding of Lower Hutt, “particularly its vulnerabilities” (he was a driving force for floodway projects and the replacement Ewen Bridge) and was also at the helm at the time of the tumultuous and highly-charged government-mandated 1989 amalgamations, when Lower Hutt, Eastbourne, Petone and Wainuiomata were joined.

Ray said Fairfield Waters is a medium density development that is aligned with the city’s Urban Growth Strategy, an ambitious plan to boost the number of homes in the city by 6000 by the end of 2032.  “We’re on target for that at the moment.”

Profit from the Fairfield Waters project will be ploughed back into expanding the city’s social housing portfolio, which is focused on providing rental units for low-income people over 65.  Last year Urban Plus sold off 27 social housing units that were considered to be of the wrong design or location for modern needs.   That leaves us with 151 units, and Urban Plus is now negotiating for  suitable sites to build additional units.

It’s likely dogs will be allowed in Avalon Park – but only on a leash, and nowhere near the playground area.

Councillors on the Policy & Regulatory Committee will tonight debate a recommendation that Avalon Park remain a Dog Prohibition Area, except on designated sealed walkways on the park’s perimeter, and the far northern part of the park.

A total ban on dogs in the park (except for the northern area) has been in place since 2005 and it had been proposed that continue.  But a group of local residents sought change, and the council agreed to put it out to consultation.

The results are in.  Of 962 respondents (Citizens Panel and self-selected respondents), 62% agreed dogs should be allowed on leash in the park.  Main reasons given were that dogs should be allowed on pathways; that people should be allowed to exercise their dog as long as it is on a lead; that it was important for children to have some contact with dogs.

Of the 35% opposed to relaxing the dog ban, the main reasons given were: there are plenty of other places for dogs to be walked; dog poo is not being picked up; the northern area of open space is sufficient for dogs; dogs and children should be kept apart.

A sub-committee was to hear submissions and consider the survey results but in light of the majority response in favour of change, the recommendation is to allow dogs on leash on the sealed pathway that runs right around the boundary of the entire park, and the open space to the north.

One clear message sent to dog owners and the council is that plenty of people are sick of stepping in dog poo that hasn’t been picked up.  Some 75% of those in opposition to a return of dogs to Avalon Park complained about this.  Council may well have to look an installing extra bins and bag dispensers to encourage dog owners to do what they should be doing with their dog’s ‘do’.

Parking is hard to find around our train stations and shopping centres but there are some drivers who are either incompetent or totally selfish.  These parking hogs ignore the white lines that act as a guide to where the front or rear of the vehicles should be, and end up taking two spaces.

The result is to frustrate other drivers, or cause other parkers to try and squeeze their car into the space that remains. .

Not only does this leave them liable to a parking ticket if the front or rear of their vehicle overhangs the white parking space lines, it also means the resident whose driveway is adjacent can’t get a clear view as they exit their property and may have to swing out over the centreline to get around the offending vehicle.

The photos on this post were taken near Waterloo Interchange.

Every six weeks Hutt City Council’s Traffic Sub-Committee has in front of it reports recommending that parking spaces have to be deleted or altered because drivers are impinging on the one metre clearance required on either side of a driveway entry/exit.

A bit more consideration for others by a few errant parkers would go a long way to easing parking pressure and frustration.

Today’s generation of adults have done lots of good things, but not a very good job of looking after the environment.  Climate change is now the biggest threat to life on this planet.

So it’s great to see a generation of today’s school kids getting stuck into recycling, composting, and planting as part of the EnviroSchool programme.

Late last year, a decade after first embarking on the EnviroSchool programme and progressing through bronze and silver stages, Eastern Hutt School achieved ‘Green Gold’ status.  Schools in Lower Hutt were early adopters of the EnviroSchool ethos and a number have reach the Gold standard, but Eastern Hutt is the school with the largest role to achieve this milestone.

Each class has its own garden and there are lots of other plantings around the school to commemorate various events, to provide nectar for bees and butterflies, and so that pupils can explore the cultural uses of plants.

Plenty of youngsters also use walking buses to get to and from school, and there are solar panels on classroom roofs that generate some of the electricity the schools uses.

Congratulations to all involved – and especially the school’s EnviroSchool pupil leadership team.

There’s a balance to be found in providing opportunities for extra homes in Lower Hutt while protecting the rights of those who already live here.  With Plan Change 43, I’m concerned that Hutt City Council may be going out too hard and fast on the former.

An extended 4-month consultation period on the topic finishes on March 9 and it’s important people have their say.

We all know that our population is ageing, and we want to create opportunities for young people and families to find a job and secure place to live here. With a higher population, there are more people to help pay for the facilities we all enjoy, and to start/run local enterprises. We’re short of flat land on the Valley floor and an argument could be made that it’s unfair for those who are already on the property ladder to pull it up for those coming behind them.

The counter is that couples and families who have invested heavily in a house they have worked hard to make a home, and with knowledge of existing zoning and planning rules, now face a situation where a 10-metre (three-storey) new residential building, with 2.5m side and rear boundaries, could be build alongside them, robbing them of sunlight, light and privacy.  Currently, the maximum height is 8 metres (two-storeys).

This style of Medium Density Development will be allowed in nine areas of the city, focused around shopping and transport hubs.

Many of the ideas in Plan Change 43 are useful, and indeed were largely supported in panel and public surveys held last year.  New rules for infill housing, granny flats and tiny houses “ subject to standards for outdoor living space and site separation” will give us the flexibility to provide for the smaller size of households and an ageing population now upon us.  Stormwater impacts have to be carefully considered.

The Suburban Mixed Use Zones are also sound. The ability for suburban shopping centre renewal, with apartments above neighbourhood stores, has environmental, efficient land use and transport reduction advantages. Such apartments above shops may well appeal to the elderly, and couples.  Importantly, the additional height allowed in these zones will by and large not trample on any neighbour’s light, sunlight or privacy rights.

Where I think we’ve gone wrong and where we’re getting all the opposition is in Medium Density Residential.

By my count the opportunity to build three-story apartment blocks or townhouses will apply to more than 200 properties on the CBD fringe (that provisionis currently on hold, pending preparation of a spatial plan for the CBD).

But in the Central Ward alone, the new provisions will apply to 282 properties on the west side

of Park Ave shops and another close to 300 properties on the eastern side of those shops.

There are some streets, within the proposed zones, where renewal of this sort would have much less impact. Why can’t we zero in on those and trial these changes.

The Design Guide only kicks in for buildings above 10m. Some of the drawings of potential apartment blocks published by council look really attractive, but there is no guarantee at all that the three-storey blocks that might be built will look anything like tht.

I ask ‘why we are we going out with such extensive zones, without first seeing how developers respond?’  We could start off with much smaller zones to see what developers actually build, and what the impact on neighbours and neighbourhoods are. We can extend the zones later by another Plan Change if we see we’re getting the kinds of developments this city and its residents want.

I understand that the Plan Change is taking a long-term development view, and today’s homeowners are not the only concern. But I also see the argument it is grossly unfair to hack away at the rights of existing homeowners to sunlight, light, privacy and the character streetscapes they bought into.

Read more about what is proposed, and how to make a submission, at http://www.huttcity.govt.nz/Your-Council/News-and-notices/Latest-News/housing-proposal-out-for-consultation/#Why%20is%20Council%20proposing%20these%20changes?

I would also like to hear your views. Email simon.edwards@huttcity.govt.nz or call me on 027 484 8892.