8 December 2020
Media: Local Democracy Reporter
Topic: Rural schools speed limit review
Enquiry
I'm working on a story about speed zones outside schools, particularly outside Lake Rerewhakaaitu School.
I have some comments for reply below and some questions - I've cc'd in the mayor since Mr Whalley mentions her specifically.
Please also let me know if there's anything those people have said that is incorrect.
Questions:
For council:
What work has the council done of speed zones outside schools and kura since February 2020 after the council's Rural Road Safety Review?
Why has a 40kph speed limit not been implemented at Lake Rerewhakaaitu School?
Is there any plan to?
Where has the council implemented a 40 kph speed zone outside a school or kura elsewhere in the district and what is the difference between those school/s and Lake Rerewhakaaitu School?
What are the funding implications for a project such as this? Who funds it, how much is a 40kph speed limit implementation likely to cost?
For mayor:
How urgent do you think this matter is?
Do you personally support the lowering of the speed limit outside Lake Rerewhakaaitu School?
What about other schools - do you agree there should be a national standard school zone speed limit (perhaps with time restrictions - such as in Australia?)
Comments:
Lake Rerewhakaaitu School principal Rick Whalley said it appeared a child would have to die in order for the speed to be lowered on the road outside his school.
Well, let's line up all the kids, and let's get the mayor down to come and tell us which one has to die so the others can be safe.
It's really a no brainer. Lower the [speed limit] so our kids are safe.
He said the school was vigilant but if an excited child ran to their parent across the road, it could easily end in tragedy.
They're doing nothing else.
He said the responsibility ultimately fell to the council and he couldn't understand why funding might be required to put 40 k signs up
It's a council road, it's the council that needs to do it.
He said the council had proposed flashing signs indicating the 70 km/h speed limit to drivers but that didn't go far enough.
If it's 70ks and you slow down to 70ks, hey I'm still doing 70ks.
We want it 40 k.
They're doing it for a school in town. What's the difference between kids in town and kids out here? If it's good for the schools in town it's good for the schools round here. A kid is a kid.
It doesn't need a meeting. It's only a sign.
Whalley absolutely supported a standardised national speed limit outside kura and schools of 40 kph.
Rural Community Board chairwoman Shirley Trumper said part of the delay was due to slow bureaucracy - both at the council and Waka Kotahi NZTA.
"If I said bureaucracy moves slowly that's probably being polite. There are things that I wish could have moved faster ... the talk I suppose is to try and get our rural kids acknowledged as just as important as our urban kids."
She said Waka Kotahi had a process to get a change gazetted, which was the main challenge.
"Council officers have a role to play in how fast it's delivered, but again it comes down to the policy and procedure and there is not always a will to make it happen in a timely fashion."
Response
From Council Group Manager Infrastructure, Stavros Michael:
What work has the council done of speed zones outside schools and kura since February 2020 after the council's Rural Road Safety Review?
"Under Government legislation, changing speed limits on local roads requires a formal speed limit review process. Speed limit reviews are undertaken by Council every three years. We are currently undertaking a review and will seek approval from Council early next year to undertake community consultation on proposed speeds. This review includes the Lake Rerewhakaaitu School zone on Ash Pit Road and as well as other rural school zones.
"To date, work has included:
- meetings with stakeholders individually to brief them on the process
- meetings with each school Principal to identify the school's point of view, priorities, wish lists, perceived risks, and future plans
- desktop and site assessments, including independent analysis of data from each school by an external engineer consultant
- collection of traffic data including volumes, speeds and percentage of heavy goods vehicles
- Billboards with speed messaging will be installed near rural schools in time for the first term of 2021
- The Rural Community Board has made a commitment to prioritise and fund the installation of warning speed signs outside three rural schools (Waikite Valley School, Broadlands School, and Lake Rerewhakaaitu School)."Additionally, the Government is looking at legislative changes for speed reduction around all schools - urban and rural. However, this will not happen until later next year. (More information on this HERE.)"Why has a 40kph speed limit not been implemented at Lake Rerewhakaaitu School? Is there any plan to? "As above, this is currently being reviewed in line with Government legislation and recommendations will be made to Council early next year."Where has the council implemented a 40 kph speed zone outside a school or kura elsewhere in the district and what is the difference between those school/s and Lake Rerewhakaaitu School? "There are currently no rural schools with 40km/h speed zones. Council has implemented a 40km/h variable speed limit outside Sunset Primary School, Owhata School and Mokoia Intermediate School. The changes resulted from a speed limit review as outlined above."What are the funding implications for a project such as this? Who funds it, how much is a 40kph speed limit implementation likely to cost?"Depending on what actions are decided on, implementation would be programmed under Council's minor safety improvement and education programmes. This would likely be within Council's 2021-31 LTP and 2021 - 2024 Waka Kotahi funding rounds. The cost of implementation will depend on the amount of physical works required for a specific school." Reference document: Operations and Monitoring Committee Report - June 2020 - 8.4 Rural School Road Safety Review and Option to extend to all Schools pg 61From Mayor Steve Chadwick:"All elected members supported the request from Rerewhakaaitu School children for a safety review and it prompted us to extend that to all rural schools - so they are instigators of change and can be very proud of that. They put a lot of effort into ensuring they were heard - and they were. "We all agree childrens' safety is absolutely paramount and we understand the concerns of the school and its community but I think the principal's comments are rather irresponsible. "The types of changes we are working towards do take some time. We're all often frustrated by the legislated processes councils have to follow to get the outcomes communities need, but I am assured staff are progressing this work and that Rerewhakaaitu School is a priority. I encourage the school to keep working constructively with council staff.
"A national standard school zone speed would make total sense. It's something that I would certainly support and that the Government is currently looking at."
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Media: Rotorua Daily Post
Topic: Housing developments
Enquiry
I just spoke to Marcus Jacobson, the new developer for the previous site of Kawaha Point Villas and was hoping to please get some urgent questions to the council about this.
He told me that he had applied for new building consents on the Ian St site and resource consent for the Frank St site and said the builds all relied on council processes in terms of timing.
Does the council plan to fast track these consents as it would mean 26 houses would be built, with more in the works on Frank St next year in the middle of a housing shortage?
What is the typical duration that one gets a resource or building consent at the moment?
The speed of development was relying on "council processes" - what are your teams doing to ensure this gets off the ground quickly? When do you expect to have consents issued?
Are there any other comments you wish to make?
Response
Operations Group Manager Jocelyn Mikaere:
Housing is an absolute priority for Council and we endeavour to progress consents as quickly as possible and work alongside developers to ensure an efficient and timely process.
We have a dedicated staff member focusing solely on the Ian St consents and working closely with the applicant's agent. Regarding Frank St, we are working with the developer on a robust pre-lodgement process to avoid unnecessary delays.
Council and others are working very hard to increase housing supply in Rotorua and Council, Te Arawa and Government agencies have partnered on a multi-pronged housing plan. (see more below)
As well as consenting, Council's role includes investing in infrastructure, district plan changes, working with developers, working with relevant agencies and organisations to ensure homes are healthy, and locality planning alongside communities.
In terms of consenting, we have increased resourcing in this area and we aim to process applications within 20 working days. It can take longer if applicants provide incomplete or insufficient information.
Current council work that relates to housing and is underway:
- Housing and Thriving Communities Strategic Framework, developed in partnership with Te Arawa and Central Government agencies following community consultation and input. Some actions in the plan are already underway. (See also links/references to the strategy below);
- Investment in infrastructure (which supports both future and existing housing) including wastewater, roading and stormwater is underway throughout the city and Council and NZTA recently received Government funding for roading and stormwater upgrades to support proposed housing at Wharenui. [This has been reported on by the Daily Post a couple of times. This is funding that came through application to Crown Infrastructure Partners (CIP)];
- Council is progressing a District Plan Change to facilitate housing at Pukehangi (more HERE);
- Council is collaborating with Tatau Pounamu Collective on an eastside locality plan that will address the future needs and aspirations of communities there (see more about that HERE);
- Long-term infrastructure planning underway (Infrastructure GM Stavros Michael presented on this 3 Sept Operations & Monitoring Committee meeting - see presentation slides HERE);
- Climate Action Plan (includes infrastructure resilience planning/actions - draft plan was presented at O&M 3 Sept, see more HERE);
- Healthy Homes initiative is ongoing (see more about that HERE).Links to the housing plan mentioned above which outlines what we want to achieve, what is planned and who (council, government agencies, iwi) will do what. See 'work streams' section which starts p20 and sets out actions and which agency/agencies will be leading/delivering them. Housing Strategy (e-book) / Housing Strategy (pdf)
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Media: Rotorua Daily Post
Topic: Meal services for people in need
Enquiry
I'm working on a story about Percy Poharama's meal service moving from tonight from the outskirts of Central Mall back to Kuirau Park (opposite the intersection of Pukuatua St and Whakatau St between Kahukura Club and where the new market space is).
In the past couple of weeks, I've written stories about some of the issues the meal service was causing. Peter Faulkner from Pukeroa Oruawhata has been quoted as saying that staff working for tenants at the mall have complained of feeling intimidated and unsafe as a result of Percy delivering his meals. Police and Watchdog Security have also confirmed there have been issues with groups and different factions of homeless gathering near the mall and waiting for their food.
I understand the meal service used to be at Kuirau Park and then Sulphur Point but was moved on from those areas as well. It was possibly also near Rydges for a while but there were issues there too.
Can the council please let me know the following . . .
1. Did the council previously move on the meal service from Kuirau Park and/or Sulphur Point? If so, why?
2. How does the council feel about it being back at Kuirau Park
3. Does the council support the kaupapa of the service (I know you're not involved financially with supporting it)?
Response
Council CE Geoff Williams:
We have had discussions with the Trust that supports Mr Poharama and have agreed to the use of the area at Kuirau Park. We are working on an agreement that sets out the expectations around the use of the Kuirau Park space.
We also discussed concerns expressed by the general public and tenants and the owners of Central Mall where issues arose and Council has in the past moved the service on from Government Gardens due to behavior issues.
Our role as Council is to consider and ensure the safety and wellbeing of all members of our community in public spaces and it is our expectation that the trust will manage this in a way that does not have negative impact on other members of the public.
Information (not quotes) re previous locations of this service:
Frther to our phone discussion: Council hasn't previously moved the meal service on from Kuirau Park. They had permission to operate there during set times (different spot than where they are now) and as far as I've been able to ascertain, it looks like they stopped around lockdown time. They weren't made to move on but presumably they weren't able to continue the service during that time. And everyone we've spoken to today is not aware of the meal service having been at Sulphur Point and/or being moved on from there by council. Not sure if there's anyone else to ask but if Percy does say he was moved on from elsewhere by council would appreciate you letting us know so we can try and get to the bottom of it.