News from the September Full Council Meeting
TCDC gets clean audit for 2007-2008 Annual Report
Audit New Zealand has given Thames-Coromandel District Council an unqualified opinion on its 2007-2008 Annual Report.
The Annual Report was adopted at the September Council meeting in Thames last week.
Copies of the Annual Report are available for inspection at all TCDC offices and public libraries and will soon be available for viewing online at www.tcdc.govt.nz.
Meanwhile Councillors will be holding a workshop this week on the proposed levels of service to be consulted on as part of the Draft 2009-2019 Ten Year Plan (LTCCP) process.
And Council has resolved that the amended Development Contributions Policy should also be included as part of the Draft Ten Year Plan consultation programme.
Mercury Bay North Reserve Management Plan adopted
Three years of work culminated in the adoption of the Mercury Bay North Reserve Management Plan at the Thames-Coromandel District Council meeting in Thames last week.
The comprehensive plan will now be forwarded to the Department of Conservation for its approval.
The Mercury Bay North Reserve Management Plan is an omnibus plan covering all Council-managed reserves in Whangapoua, Matarangi, Rings Beach, Kuaotunu, Otama and Opito Bay. As well as giving a description of what is already provided by Council at each location, it outlines recommended developments for the future.
The council acknowledged at last week’s meeting that there are cases of encroachment by adjacent property owners onto reserve land in some places and has referred these matters to the Community Services Manager for advice and/or action.
New reserve standards set by TCDC for new developments
Faced with ever-increasing costs to bring new reserves up to standard, Thames-Coromandel District Council has agreed on a two tier approach to determine the size of reserves to be created and the amount developers will pay as a Reserves Development Contribution per additional unit of demand.
The council resolved at its September meeting in Thames last week that the following District Reserve Standards will apply:
Category A – Community Open Space: 65m2 per additional unit of demand.
Category B – Active Recreation Areas: 20m2 per additional unit of demand.
Category C – Neighbourhood Open Space: 95m2 per additional unit of demand.
It decided not to adopt a standard for Category D – Local Area Reserves; and Category E – Native Forest, Historic, Scenic, Cultural or Other Reserves.
In recognition of the high cost to both ratepayers and developers in meeting the above standards, the council has resolved to levy a lower Reserve Development Contribution as follows:
Category A – Community Open Space: 19m2 per additional unit of demand.
Category B – Active Recreation Areas: 6m2 per additional unit of demand.
Category C – Neighbourhood Open Space: 20m2 per additional unit of demand.
Developments covered by a structure plan in the District Plan will have to comply with the standards contained in the structure plan.
The council may consider delaying work on new reserves when it believes it can meet public need better through upgrading existing reserves.
In cases where reserves are being developed in expanded developments, then the new reserves will be required to be of the same standard as existing reserves in the earlier development if higher standards have already been used.
However, the public will be able to comment on the new standards as part of the upcoming consultation process for the Draft 2009-2019 Ten Year Plan early in the New Year.
Maori engagement considered by TCDC
Thames-Coromandel District Council has asked staff to put together a work programme to progress the engagement by Maori in Council’s decision-making processes as required by the Local Government Act 2002.
It has asked staff to make provision for identifying Maori stakeholders in the district; identify key issues of particular interest to Maori; gather information on Maori perspectives about Council activities; and to consciously build on the existing good quality relationships that have been established through a variety of means, as time and funding allows.
The council has also instructed staff to make budget provision in the Draft 2009-2019 Ten Year Plan to implement the above actions.
An attempt to accelerate the process by including a requirement to discuss the potential for a formal Memorandum of Understanding with a major Iwi group failed to gain enough support at last week’s Council meeting in Thames.
Whangamata Hall spending approved by Council
Up to $300,000 will be spent on noise control modifications to the Whangamata Hall and seeking a resource consent to hold a defined number of non-conforming events per year.
Thames-Coromandel District Council has agreed to provide the funding from the Whangamata Land Subdivision Reserve Account to carry out a number of modifications aimed at reducing external noise levels when the hall is being used.
Consultants Marshall Day Acoustics reported that the recommended $182,000 physical works could give a 10 decibel improvement over current noise levels, which would allow many hall activities that are currently restricted to meet existing resource consent conditions.
Marshall Day Acoustics reported that other councils had a temporary activity consent policy that allowed them to sanction a limited number of consent-breaching events each year as a compromise solution to meet community needs while respecting the rights of neighbours to peace and quiet.
The council was told that the cost of gaining such a resource consent was conditional on the number of objections received and to what level any appeals were made. It approved the use of $20,000 in the Whangamata Community Planning budget to kick start the process.
Thames RSA roof repairs to cost $120,000
Approval has been given for urgent repairs to be carried out to the roof of the former Thames RSA building at a cost estimated at $120,000. The building is owned by the Thames-Coromandel District Council and is leased to Wintec.
The council has referred the potential sale of the building back to the Thames Community Board for further consideration.
Increased reseals cost puts paid to seal extension plans
Thames-Coromandel District Council has had to shelve its seal extension plans for this year to meet increased costs in general resealing.
The council had proposed spending $100,000 on seal extension, but a $117,000 increase in TCDC’s share of the cost of reseals meant it wasn’t possible to do both jobs. Cutting the reseals budget would have meant 2.53 kilometres of resurfacing would not have been done this year and added to an existing backlog of resealing work.
A third option of reducing the road maintenance budget was also considered unacceptable because reseals and adequate road maintenance are both considered essential to the economic management of district roading.
The council will spend $2.3 million on reseals this year.
Six week meeting cycle retained by TCDC
Full Thames-Coromandel District Council and committee meetings will continue to be held every six weeks after a successful trial since the beginning of the year.
The decision to retain the six week meeting cycle was almost unanimously supported after a report was tabled at the September Council meeting in Thames last week showing significant time and cost savings.
The meeting was told some of the community boards had already indicated they would be returning to a four week meeting cycle next year, but Council resolved to recommend to the community boards that they adopt the same cycle as Council, and asked staff to forward the Council meeting schedule to them.
TCDC unconvinced on need to fund Tararu property purchase
Thames-Coromandel District Council is unconvinced that it needs to part fund the purchase of a private property to allow the construction of an enlarged spillway as part of the Tararu Flood Protection Scheme.
Last week’s Council meeting in Thames considered a presentation from Environment Waikato seeking TCDC support to buy the property after changes to the bridge design made an expanded spillway desirable.
Council was told that the property owner was a reluctant seller and that taking the land under the Public Works Act would be too time consuming.
After hearing that a “do nothing” option was not viable because it could potentially open TCDC up to litigation, Council agreed to support a middle option that would see Transit New Zealand fund a limited capacity spillway.