Minutes Tuesday 7 December 2010

Patumahoe Village Inc

Minutes: Tuesday 7 December 2010

(Notes:  Due to technical difficulties (computer failure) and lack of written notes, the minutes for the last meeting have been recreated. For that reason no movers and seconders have been recorded. This to my recollection is the summary of the items that were moved and seconded during the meeting. Please advise if any inaccuracies are noted)

Present:

Paula Crosswell, Gary Morris, Vicki Lacy, Keith Harris, Bruce McMiken, Trevor McMiken, Peter Kraakman, Angela Smith, Kay Carter, Peter Askew

Apologies:

Ron Gordon, Glenn Hunter, Andrew Sinclair, Annette Smith

Meeting opened: 7.30pm

SUMMARY OF TOPICS DISCUSSED

1. Patumahoe School carpark project involving council reserve land

The meeting began with a brief welcome to those who had not attended any previous meetings. This included Keith Hardy and Kay Carter who were specifically involved in a discussion with the school and council regarding a project for extending the school carparks into the reserve adjoining the school.

The result of this situation:

• The school carpark project proposed for council reserve land will not take place.

• Both Patumahoe School and Auckland Council will consult with the community, and/or this group when contemplating changes to community reserves or facilities.

It was noted that valuable information relating to Patumahoe’s community history needs to be recorded to avoid repetition of the situation that occurred. With participation of long term residents perhaps local histories can be recorded and distributed. Part of the proposed website is assigned to Local History and could be utilised for this purpose.

2. Community consultation progress and methods.

A brief summary of the intent of the group regarding the Structure Plan was given to get all meeting participants up to date.

Decisions reached regarding this topic during the meeting:

• Street parties are to be held for all residential streets in Patumahoe,

• Information collected will be displayed for community review at a village open day on February 27th 2011.

The first street party is to be on December 16th at Peter and Ali Askews residence in Carter Road. This will serve the residents of Patumahoe Road, Sedgebrook and Carter Roads.

Hosts for other roads have been identified as:

Graeme & Britta Weck – Clive Howe Road, Mahoe Glade

Tania Collie – Mareretu Road

Peter Kraakman & Angela Smith – Mauku

Karena Brady-Leathams – Kingseat & Mauku Roads

Confirm host for Woodhouse Road.

The village open day is set for Sunday 27th February, this will coincide with the launch of the community website.

3. Community Website

Intended to provide community online presence for both Patumahoe and Mauku which will be linked in many areas.

Andy Davey, Cicada Websites is a local resident that has been employed to build the site. He has been given the Plimmerton website, www.plimmerton.org.nz as a template to base his style and form on. A deposit of 50% of his written quote has been approved to initiate work, this amounts to $1,380.00.

Free online listings for non-profit groups, clubs and organisations.

Businesses will be canvassed for advertising, with business directory providing listing, free webpage and links to their own website if they own one. Fee $100/year. 

Sandra Utatao has been approached to sell advertising to our businesses.

4. Purchase of banners and advertising material

Approval was sought for and given to purchase banners and other items that will be used for the street parties and open days and to advertise the community website. Estimate for purchase of items from Vistaprint is approx $500. This purchase was approved.

5. Requirement for extra planning resources

Paula Crosswell noted that it is apparent that despite our generous grant, we would need further resources in order to produce the best design and submission to Auckland Council in 2102. With that in mind, a draft of a letter to the Auckland Council Chief Planning Officer, Roger Blakely, was read out to the meeting. ( A copy of this letter is attached to these minutes). It was unanimously approved for sending.

The meeting was closed at around 9.20pm

Copy of draft read out during meeting:

7 December 2010

Dr Roger Blakely

District Planning Officer

Auckland Council

Private Bag 92300

Auckland 1142

REQUEST FOR VILLAGE PLANNING PROJECT – Patumahoe, Pukekohe

Dear Dr Blakely

I am a co-chair for a community group, Patumahoe Village Inc., which was recently formed in response to the large scale residential development happening in our rural-residential village in Franklin district.

During our successful application for a Low Impact Design grant from the ARC, we were informed that our intention was remarkably similar to a Porirua City Council iniative, the Village Planning programme, which I understand you were integral in implementing.

Patumahoe is a small rural-residential village in the previous Auckland district of Franklin. It is located within ten minutes of the Drury exit of the Southern motorway, and the area almost reaches the urban boundary of Pukekohe, while the village itself is within seven minutes drive of Pukekohe centre.

On this side of Pukekohe, there are no other communities that provide such a wide range of retail, sports clubs, education facilities and hospitality areas within such a concentrated area until you reach the town of Waiuku. Clarks Beach is larger in residential size, but not as well resourced in community facilities.

For many decades the size and rate of growth in the village has been small and measured, and easily absorbed within the community. Recent implementation of long planned residential development has changed this pattern quite significantly.

Prompted by the lack of local government planning scheduled to address this fundamental change, we have sought advice from the previous council and representatives, and created a formal community group. The intent of this group is to consult with the community, and collate a community conceived Structure Plan for submission as a LTCCP to Auckland Council in 2012.

The District Growth Strategy for Patumahoe produced by Franklin District Council was not individually tailored to the large growth planned for the area, and as such has fallibilities in terms of the following aspects:

• very conservative population calculation and figures – in terms of both defined area and usage;

• despite the fact that the population estimates are conservative, and a need for commercial zoning is already required (3ha by 2050)– no zoning for this landuse has been identified;

• it has residential zoning surrounding the current community/retail centre meaning that future commercial, community and retail locations have not been taken into consideration, and this will result in a scattershot approach to these landuses;

• it has not considered the possibility of commuter link to Auckland on the rail system, and planned accordingly for this possibility;

• has identified Patumahoe as an area for growth as it is an already established village (along with other small Franklin communities) without seeing a need to maintain it’s own individual characteristics and values;

• it has not defined a policy that promotes the individuality and differences of rural-residential communities.

I am sure that there are many worthy communities in Auckland that both deserve and would benefit from what we propose to do, but do feel that there is an opportunity for both Patumahoe and Auckland Council to benefit from a considered approach to community planning in our village.

Our points of difference are:

• Patumahoe is undergoing unprecedented growth at an accelerated rate for a small, long established community,

• population figures used to determine development allocations and community facilities are very conservative and under current planning schedules, no impact reports or consultation is to take place regarding these changes,

• Patumahoe lies on the still functioning railway line to Glenbrook Steel Mill. We understand that NZ Rail intends to extend Auckland commuter services to Waiuku within the next decade or so – we will be on that line, with the possibility of a station. In this case, location of possible station and accommodation of growth needs to be addressed immediately;

• the majority of developers and landowners with zoned land are long-time residents and landowners. Development of their land is a new venture for many, and they have other measures along with economic that they are considering when developing their land. We have been in contact with most of them, and have several involved with the group and are in correspondence with others. I believe this is a unique situation, and one that allows for a more open communication than could usually be expected;

• many local residents from surrounding areas identify Patumahoe as “their local village” and the impact of considered planning will be appreciated by a wider community than that defined by Patumahoe;

• we have the advice of Hayden Easton, regarding Low Impact Design for community spaces and linkages;

• our request for community Structure Planning for Patumahoe has been included in the legacy package handed over by Franklin District Council in November;

• we have a strong community of volunteers and benefactors that have contributed in the past to Patumahoe – and are keen to see this village continue to thrive;

• an obvious area of rezoning for commercial/retail landuse is currently parks & reserves, this rezoning could offset the net cost of implementing planning resources to this project;

• we have already begun a programme of consultation which includes following the successful Plimmerton method of street parties, followed by a village open day in February, and planning a community website that will be launched on that date.

Communities which have been built on the goodwill and hard work of their residents in the past need to have that hard work acknowledged and rewarded by considered growth, not have their efforts absorbed by increased development without individual planning.

An advantage of the existing community network in Patumahoe is that resources allocated by your council will be able to deliver a good return on investment.

My concern as chairperson, is that with all the goodwill and effort in the world, our consultation and work on the current structure of Patumahoe can only get us so far without the support of Auckland Council and professional planners to create the final Structure Plan for our LTCCP submission to Auckland Council in 2012. This was our reason for asking that this issue be included in the Legacy package handed over by Franklin District Council.

We have a great village, and a committed group of both long-term and recent residents.

With comprehensive community consultation and support we can continue to have a great community, and welcome the new residents without regret for times past.

With local government support and planning resources we could do even more, we could retain our own individuality, while giving others a method to use to preserve their own character in times of change and uncertainty. We can provide an examplar for a Village Planning project in Auckland, where it would be gratefully embraced by those who fear losing their character in this amalgamation.

Please contact me if you require any further information to favourably consider this request.

I will look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Paula Crosswell

Patumahoe Village Inc