POSTPONED: Kororā sign planting
The weather tomorrow looks somewhat unfavourable for planting the Penguin sign – will update with a new date soon.
POSTPONED: Kororā sign planting Read More »
Announcements
Former resident has published a novel, Wairaka Point
Former Pukerua Bay resident Trevor Watkin has published a new novel. Wairaka Point: An African–New Zealand Journal is based on actual events across several countries, including New Zealand settings that will be familiar to locals. More information at www.wairakapoint.com
“Just finished a great read” — Sam Hunt
Former resident has published a novel, Wairaka Point Read More »
He Ara Pukerua signpost opening
The He Ara Heritage Group of the Pukerua Bay Residents Association would like to invite you to the opening of 4 heritage bollards on the Ara Harakeke Way. The event will be on Saturday 19 May 2018 and start at 10.00am by the entrance to Whenua Tapu.
That might sound a bit official but it’s really a great chance to see and hear stories about our local history. The bollards have been placed alongside the walkway to mark significant events or places at those sites.
It’s a 2.5 km walk down to the Z Truck Stop and Mayor Mike Tana is officiating at all four of them. He will be ably assisted at each one by our selected historians who will give a potted history of the significance of each site.
A representative from the Hongoeka Marae will bless each one and Mayor Mike will unveil them with a flourish. As a bonus, Mike Jebson from the QE2 National Trust and a resident botanist will speak as we pass the Taupō Swamp sign which was recently rediscovered. The last time it was seen out in the open was when the Queen was here!
At the Truck Stop we will have available some ‘local’ refreshments. They will be non-alcoholic and child friendly. Actually they will be real fruit ice blocks made on the Kāpiti Coast by a couple of ladies just starting their business called Paekākāriki Pops.
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Have your say before the end of the April
Pukerua Bay residents! We encourage you to make submissions to your local councils about their long term plans, and have your say about things that matter to you. Please have a look at the following two sites, both due before the end of this month:
Porirua City Council: Make submissions on the new proposed Long Term Plan before 23 April at submissions.porirua.govt.nz. The long term plan emphasis is on much needed infrastructure investment in the ageing water supply and waste/storm water systems funded with a 5.25 % rates increase per year over 4 years. Other changes include paid parking in the CBD, strategic property purchases and revitalising Eastern Porirua, subsidised recycling for schools and preschools, improved access to Titahi Bay, a second fenced dog park, and increasing fees and charges to reduce the increase in rates. Click here for the whole document (PDF).
Greater Wellington Regional Council: Submit your opinions online at www.whatmatters.co.nz before 29 April and have your say. Porirua City Council have argued they are paying too high a transport rate due to shortcomings in economic modelling, so revising these models should improve costs for flood protection and transportation. We think Porirua residents should submit in support of this change (by choosing Option 1 in the Revenue and Financing Policy proposal) to help counteract likely votes against it from Hutt and Wairarapa councils. Three other issues are 1. long term plans for the Wairarapa and Capital Connection rail services, 2. improving the Wellington Regional Emergency Management Office, and 3. support for the Water Wairarapa Project.
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Community Garden consultation
We had a great meeting at the site of the Community Garden on Sunday, having invited all the neighbours to discuss the project and contribute with ideas and feedback. Everyone who turned out was enthusiastic and eager to participate, so we are looking at getting things moving ahead. With this in mind – everyone in the community is invited to a meeting at 7pm, Thursday 19 October at the School Hall to contribute to the planning for the immediate and longer term future of the garden.
If you have anything you would like to put on the agenda; ideas and feedback, skills, materials or other resources to contribute, please feel free to message here or comment on the Facebook posts’s discussion.
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Pukerua Bay Train Station opening
Join us in celebrating the new METLINK station shelter (funded and installed by GWRC), and heritage signs at the Pukerua Bay Railway Station on Saturday the 27th of May at 10am. Mayor Mike Tana will present and open the archway and reveal the new Heritage Sign on the platform. All Pukerua Bay residents and visitors are warmly invited to attend.
For further details about the event, please click here.
Background: The Pukerua Bay Residents Association has worked tirelessly in partnership with Porirua City Council to provide a beautiful new wooden archway and historical information sign.
The timbers used in this sign and the others to be installed, come from the Airlie Road over-bridge which was originally built in 1937 and demolished in 2010.
We invite you to share your memories, memorabilia or materials relating to Pukerua Bay. These will complete the research that has been done so the final map can be drawn. Please contact Margaret Blair on 021 1373 263 or pukeruaheritage@gmail.com.
The Heritage signs folks.
Getting the sign into place.
The steel cutouts, from inside.
The finished station building.
North end of the building.
Designs from the outside.
The previous station building.
Pukerua Bay Train Station opening Read More »
Community food forest garden access is ready
Good news! There is now sensible access along the Muri Station platform and a new gate into our new community garden / food forest area on Muri Reserve. The council have provided us with a mains water connection and have mown and mulched the grass on the site ready for planting.
New gate and mulched grass.
Improved access along the train platform.
We would like to run an opening and working bee this weekend. There’s plenty to do, and there is an initial list of jobs in our short term annual garden plan. Any and all donations of time, materials, tools or required professional services will be gratefully received.
Iif you are interested in participating please get in touch with the RA secretary via the Contact Us page!
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Community Food Forest update: vehicle access!
It has been a while, perhaps too long; but although it may look like nothing has happened in the last year or two, your intrepid Residents’ Association has navigated a long and complex journey on your behalf, so that we can now, legally, finally, begin our planned community food forest!
Porirua City Council are building vehicle access this month to the community food forest site on Muri Reserve. The access will go from the end of Muri Road, along the station platform, and across the ditch to a new gate in the fence, as shown in yellow on the map.
Getting the green light
To legally establish the community food forest, and to set it up to continue indefinitely as a community-stewarded project, required several things.
Firstly, we needed an organisation to take responsibility for stewarding the project, and maintaining its links to and engagement with the community. Initial discussions were around establishing a charitable trust, but the constitutional principles of the Residents’ Association to act and liaise on behalf of Pukerua Bay community projects was a natural fit.
Second, we needed a licence to garden on the Muri Reserve site from the Porirua City Council. Although this was more straightforward at the beginning, the process got a bit bogged down because of the Muri Reserve site boundary with the KiwiRail main trunk corridor. The licence was further complicated by the fact that the site is on reserve land, governed by The Reserves Act 1977, which requires more regulations and careful considerations of liability than would otherwise be the case. However, in June 2016, Te Komiti approved our application for the issuing of a licence for gardening, and this agreement has now been signed.
Thirdly, we needed to sign a scary-looking legal access agreement with KiwiRail for the vehicle access, which runs alongside the closed Muri Station platform. This arose from the gardening licence negotiations with council, and involved quite a lot of to-and-fro, and a good amount of persistence on our behalf from council staff. However this agreement is now signed and in place, and work to build the vehicle access will be commencing this month.
We also needed to lodge our shorter-term annual garden plan for the community food forest with the council parks department for approval, which is also happening this week. This is to ensure that we are adhering to local by-laws and so on, and not doing anything silly like planting convolvulus, or having a bonfire. (No, we can’t ever have bonfires on Muri Reserve land. Sorry.)
And finally, we needed to agree to pay public liability insurance. This is fairly standard nowadays unfortunately, due to changes in legislation around work safety, occupational health, ACC, local government liability and so on. The RA is now up for an annual insurance bill of a few hundred dollars a year to cover this, and would appreciate any fund-raising ideas or efforts from willing enthusiastic residents!
If you’re still reading this, well done; even more excruciating detail is available in the RA minutes, which you can browse here.
Community Food Forest update: vehicle access! Read More »
Improving safety on SH1
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:
- “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.
- The existing speed indicator devices (SID) will be replaced and two new SIDs installed along SH1 through Pukerua Bay.
- 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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