Matariki 2021

Family-friendly activities, yummy kai, and the starry night walk through Te Ara Matariki in the Kōawa Ngaro Secret Valley. Check out the performances at the School and Community Hall, as well as the local art and light displays that are part of the Matariki Arts Trail.

Te Ara Matariki will be open from 4–8pm. Please make your own way safely to the Kōawa Ngaro Secret Valley entrance at the north end of Takutai Road. Bring a lantern, headlamp, or torch. Wrap up warm and wear sturdy footwear. Children must be supervised at all times.

Gold coin koha entry, rain or shine.

For more details, see the Matariki 2021 event on Facebook.

Brought to you by Pukerua Bay Hub / Ahu Charitable Trust, Porirua City Creative Communities, and Nikau Foundation.

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Matariki Arts Trail

A group of Pukerua Bay artists have come together to celebrate Matariki through art, on and around the week of 10 July. We’ve planned a Matariki Arts Trail to take place alongside the Hub’s Matariki Festival.

  • Lottie Sterck: paper lantern workshop
  • Kate Jacob: native bird walk and gallery viewing
  • Julian Meadow: outdoor lightshow projection
  • Rachel Campbell: outdoor typography lightshow
  • Manawa: storytelling evening
  • Alejandro Ariza Hernandez: wooden installations
  • Hub Craft Group: yarn bombing display

For more details of times and venues, visit the Arts Trail event on Facebook.

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Food Forest Garden working bee

We’ll be at the Community Garden and Food Forest this Saturday:

Date: Saturday 12 June 2021, 10 am to 12 noon (ical)
Place: Food Forest Garden, Muri Reserve (map)

Feel free to come along as we’ll be working on the berry area and usual maintenance, plus the usual cups of tea from the thermette. If available, you can bring gloves and hand tools, and green matter for the compost bins (e.g. veg scraps). We now have two regular mornings in the garden:

  • 2nd Saturday of the month
  • Last Wednesday of the month

We look forward to catching up with you soon,
Pukerua Bay Community Garden & Food Forest members

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Community Garden Food Forest working bee

We’ll be at the Community Garden and Food Forest this Saturday 12 June at 10am to 12 noon (ish). Feel free to come along as we’ll be working on the berry area and usual maintenance, plus the usual cups of tea from the thermette. If available, you can bring:
  • Gloves and hand tools
  • Green matter for the compost bins (e.g. veg scraps)
We now have two regular mornings in the garden:
  • 2nd Saturday of the month
  • Last Wednesday of the month

We look forward to catching up with you soon,
PKB Community Garden & Food Forest members

Community Garden Food Forest working bee Read More »

Kāinga Ora’s proposal on multi-level buildings in Pukerua Bay

The Government’s social housing agency, Kāinga Ora, has asked Porirua City Council to change PCC’s proposed District Plan to allow for buildings at least six-stories high in several areas in Porirua, including part of Pukerua Bay.

This comes from the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD), which is a policy that councils have to incorporate into their plans and allow to operate — they have no choice about this. In the words of the policy statement, ‘Councils must give effect to these objectives and policies.’ There is a one-page summary here.

It’s an attempt to improve how cities respond to growth to enable improved housing affordability and community wellbeing.

Some of the provisions in it apply to the areas under the most pressure — the Tier 1 councils. Wellington region is one of these.

The relevant part to the NPS-UD is Policy 3, which says that for tier 1 local authorities, maximum capacity must be enabled in city centre zones. They must also enable development of at least six storeys in metropolitan centre zones and within walkable distances of rapid transit stops, and the edge of city centre and metropolitan zones. In these locations, six storeys are not a target, but is a minimum for what must be enabled in plans. If assessments show that both demand and access are high in these areas, councils should enable heights and densities that reflect this.

There is a fact sheet on intensification here.

The government has provided advice to councils with high- or medium-growth urban areas on how to meet the requirements in the NPS-UD.

Kāinga Ora’s proposal

Kāinga Ora has proposed that these 6-storey minimum buildings be allowed in six areas in Porirua. (Their full submission is here — number 81 in the list.)

Kāinga Ora maps of high-density zones — Pukerua Bay is the first map in the document, and the high-density zone is the orange and white striped area centred around the train station. There is also an online map you can enter your address into to find the nearest high-density zones.

This appears to be a standard submission Kāinga Ora is making around the country to include this form of intensification in councils’ District Plans and is not specifically targeted at Porirua. The areas seem to be simply drawn around train stations and certain urban facilities, such as shopping centres, without any analysis of whether they are suitable. Or, in the case of Pukerua Bay, whether our train station counts as a ‘rapid transit stop’ and whether ‘both demand and access are high’ for intensive development in this area.

The proposal would allow for very little input at the resource consent stage by affected neighbours.

Further submissions

We are allowed to make further submissions in response to ones like Kāinga Ora’s submissions – even if we didn’t make a submission initially.

The further submission can only respond to initial submissions and can’t bring up new matters. They must say what you agree with or disagree with and why.

Deadline for further submissions

These must be with PCC by 11 May.

There are links on this page to the ways you can make further submissions by filling out this Word document form.

Need a hand?

The summary reports are complex and PCC is able to help you understand them.

You can make an appointment to talk to a member of PCC’s planning team. Please email or call: dpreview@pcc.govt.nz ph 04 237 5089

If you would like help making a further submission, an independent ‘Friend of the Submitter’ service is available. Please email or call FriendofSubmittersPDP@poriruacity.govt.nz ph 021 532 284

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