Iain MacLean

Penguin signs go up in the Bay

/ / School, Wildlife

Penguins could be one step safer at Pukerua Bay, with a new sign providing tips and information to visitors. Little penguins or kororā are occasionally seen and heard by residents at Pukerua Bay beach. Kororā usually come ashore in the evening and return to the sea in the morning. But when they are breeding or moulting they stay on land all the time. As their name suggests, they are tiny at around 33 centimetres long, and as they are flightless, they can easily be attacked by dogs.

penguin_kids

Children from Pukerua Bay School joined Councillor Dale Williams and local residents to celebrate this initiative on Thursday 14 June. The children planted around the sign and placed hand-painted penguins nearby.

penguin_sign

Designed by Pukerua Bay resident Anne Johnston, the sign has been adapted from a sign placed at Paekakariki by the Kāpiti Coast Biodiversity Project. The Pukerua Bay sign was created with support from the Hutt Mana Charitable Trust, the Department of Conservation, the Kāpiti Coast Biodiversity Project, Porirua City Council and the Pukerua Bay Residents’ Association.

 

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New highway pedestrian cross by shops

/ / Road safety

This Sunday night, 10 June, NZTA contractors will start building a crossing by the shops that pedestrians can use to get across the highway.

This is a proposal NZTA brought to the Residents Association over 18 months ago, and it’s finally being built!

As you can see in the picture, it is at the end of the car park, opposite Reds.

There is a 2.5m wide refuge in the middle of the road where pedestrians can stand, with rails on either side of the refuge, and 4m long islands running north and south.

The work will start 7pm Sunday night, and go until 5:30am. Night work will be spread over five nights, with some finishing work during the day, There will be stop/go traffic management in place during the work.

Once it’s built, vehicles will still be able to turn left out of the car park to go north, but won’t be able to turn right to go south from the toilet end of the car park. We’ll also have to get used to the refuge being in the middle of the road when turning right into Teihaha Road.

We’re pretty pleased, after many years of lobbying, to finally get some sort of safe crossing. It might not be perfect, but it’s better than the nothing we have at the moment!

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Are you affected by engine braking noise?

/ / Consultation

The Pukerua Bay Residents Association wants to know how many people who live here are affected by the noise of trucks using their engine brakes in Pukerua Bay. We are currently discussing the issue with Porirua City Council and New Zealand Transport Agency to find ways to reduce it. It is important that we know how many people in Pukerua Bay are affected by it and how badly.

Please fill in this survey and help us gather the evidence we need in our discussions with the authorities.

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Tree trimming to prevent power blackouts

/ / Road safety

Starting next Sunday night (9 July), the New Zealand Transport Agency and Porirua City Council will be trimming vegetation along State Highway 1 to clear power lines. This work will go on for eight nights, and also includes some other maintenance and road safety work. It follows the power cut from three weeks ago, which was caused by trees growing through the lines.

They’ve provided the following information for Pukerua Bay residents. …

Tree trimming to prevent power blackoutsRead More »

Tree trimming to prevent power blackouts Read More »

Muri Road safety improvements — community feedback wanted

/ / Consultation, Road safety

Pukerua Bay Residents Association is working with Muri Road residents and Porirua City Council to improve aspects of road and pedestrian safety along Muri Road.

We’re after feedback by the end of the first week in June before 28 May.

In early 2016, we asked Muri Road residents to take part in a survey on how Muri Road could be made safer for everyone.

They told us that they wanted lighting along the road improved, some form of footpath and to reduce the speed of cars using the road.

With this information we put in a successful bid to the Council for funding to undertake a village planning project for 2016/17 to make changes that would improve road and pedestrian safety.

This document outlines proposed work to improve lighting, walkability and the speed of cars along Muri Road. It also outlines some opportunities for other work that could be done at the same time.

Please study this document and provide any feedback on this form by the end of the first week in June before 28 May.

It can be dropped into the letterbox at 84 Muri Road or dropped back to the Council’s Village Planning Team at the main administration building in Cobham Court.

Feel free to discuss this project with us (Iain MacLean 027 420 3056, iain@maclean.name or Pauline Morse 239 9838) or with the Council’s Village Planning team who can be contacted through the main Council number 237-5089.

Your feedback will be incorporated into development of the final plan and we will be in touch to outline the next steps. …

Muri Road safety improvements — community feedback wantedRead More »

Muri Road safety improvements — community feedback wanted Read More »

Improving safety on SH1

/ / Announcements, Road safety / ,

At the Residents’ Association AGM last year, NZTA presented a number of options for improving safety along the State Highway, and got some good feedback on the options. We heard back from them recently about the progress on the options.

They said:

  1. “A pedestrian refuge near the intersection of Teihana Road and State Highway 1 will be investigated. The community feedback identified this as the first choice from the proposed safety improvement options presented. The exact location and layout of this refuge is now being developed. Once this work is done, we will share the plan with the community for final confirmation. The agreed refuge will then be programmed for construction.
  2. The existing speed indicator devices (SID) will be replaced and two new SIDs installed along SH1 through Pukerua Bay.
  3. The white fence next Pukerua Beach Road will be replaced and a new safety barrier installed. Replacing the fence with a much sturdier W-section barrier will improve safety for pedestrians, given the recent occurrence of errant vehicles hitting the existing fence.”

Two of our committee members had a meeting with NZTA today at the shops, to look at the potential site for a pedestrian refuge. Given the standards for pedestrian refuges, the need to retain the right turn into Teihana Rd and have sufficient space for 2-3 cars waiting to turn, the most practicable and suitable site would be across from the northern end of the white barrier at the car parks to a bit south of the stone wall on the Te Motu side of the highway. It may be that a temporary refuge is set out and monitored, via a camera mounted on the light standard by the toilets, over a week or so to see how successfully it works.

To aid line of sight on the Te Motu Rd side there may need to be some modification of the bank on that side, but not affecting the stone wall, if the fixture is permanent. One of the people on the team grew up in Pukerua Bay so is familiar with the issues.

We’ll let you know when we’ve got some more info on their progress.

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Pukerua Bay Residents’ Association — 2016 Annual Report of the Chair

/ / Annual Reports, RA /

This year the committee continued its focus on our Village Planning projects, in particular the Muri Reserve community garden/food forest, safety along people travelling along Muri Road and the Green and Gold trails, as well as responding to issues arising from the opening of Te Araroa walkway, and supporting the Pukerua Bay Store. …

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Pukerua Bay Residents’ Association — 2016 Annual Report of the Chair Read More »

Pukerua Bay shop liquor licence

/ / Announcements, Consultation, RA

The Pukerua Bay Residents Association is running a survey on the future of our local store. Its liquor licence application is being opposed by the Police and the Liquor Licensing Inspector, and there is a risk the store could close if it cannot sell alcohol. If you are a resident, and have a view on the value of the store to the community, please fill in the survey.

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