Annual Meeting of Members 8:30 am Monday 1 February 2021 At the Dunes Golf Clubhouse
Agenda:
1. Welcome MRAI Members & Guests:
Alan Tiplady, TCDC District Manager North
Murray McLean, Deputy Mayor and Councillor for Mercury Bay
Tony Fox, Councillor for Mercury Bay
Deli Connell, Mercury Bay Community Board
2. Apologies
3. Minutes of the Annual Meeting held 27 Jan 2020 were circulated in the MRAI February 2020 Newsletter
4. Chairman's Report [Mark Bedford] - APPENDED
5. Treasurer's Report [David Macdonald]
Audited Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2020 - APPENDED
6. Matarangi Reserves Management Group Report [David Macdonald, Chair and Sue Karl, Secretary] - APPENDED
7. Matarangi Community Trust and Matarangi Land Holding Ltd update
8. Invited Speakers
9. General Business and Open Forum
10. Meeting Closure
Reports for items 4, 5 and 6 are APPENDED, these reports will be taken as read.
Item 4: Chairman’s Report
Kia ora koutou,
Let me extend a warm welcome to all of our members and thank for your continued support. Currently our membership sits at 340 which is extremely encouraging. Notwithstanding this, wouldn’t it be fantastic if we had even more members. The work we do benefits all ratepayers and also other members of this fantastic community. Currently there are over 1500 rated properties in Matarangi which of course is about to increase substantially as the final piece of land available for development is soon to receive a resource consent. MRAI has and will continue to work closely with TCDC and Beaches Ltd to address issues of mutual interest with this development.
I would like to now thank a few people who have contributed so much both to MRAI and the Matarangi community.
Ian Patrick
Ian has been involved with MRAI ever since I have been a member of this community (30 odd years). His contribution has been immense and on behalf of us all, thank you sincerely. We wish you well in your new community of Omokoroa.
Hilary Falconer
Hilary has also relocated to Omokoroa and I would also like to thank Hilary for her contribution and wish her well.
Alastair MacCormick
Alastair (now Chair of Matarangi Community Trust) needs no introduction, but he certainly deserves a huge vote of thanks for his stewardship of MRAI over many years which was pivotal in the eventual resolution of the issues around the Golf Course. Alastair continues to work with us and others on the unresolved open space issues which I will allude to later in this report. Personally, Alastair has been a huge support to me as the incoming MRAI Chair. Thank you, Alastair.
Our continued positive relationship with TCDC also needs special mention. TCDC is an organisation that we need to work with closely as our Local Authority. Today, I welcome Allan Tiplady representing TCDC as our guest today. We don’t always agree with TCDC, but we have and will maintain a close and positive working relationship for the benefit of our community. I am confident, that as in the past, our views will always be valued and respected.
Major Issues / Initiatives for 2020
Open Space
Since the purchase of the Golf Course by Matarangi Land Holdings Ltd (MLHL), and of course the absolute transformation of both the Golf Course and the community support that has followed, a tripartite group (MRAI, MLHL, and Matarangi Community Trust) have engaged in ongoing discussions at a senior level with TCDC to resolve outstanding issue with the future of open space in Matarangi, which also includes the land occupied by the Golf Course. These issues are complex, but it would be fair to say that the high-level goals are shared by all i.e. All open Space is zoned as such and protected in perpetuity, a functional and robust Matarangi Community Trust, satisfactory oversight of a community centre and potentially a golf course with appropriate long-term leases, agreements and management structures to ensure operational functionality that will contribute to our vibrant community for a very long time to come. Progress on these discussions is being made and there is a substantial amount of good will amongst all of the parties for an agreed resolution.
At this point, I would like to seek confirmation of the unanimous agreement from you all at last year’s AGM, for the introduction of a targeted rate for Matarangi to assist if in fact it is required. MRAI will keep our members fully informed on progress of these important discussions.
Reserve Management Group
This is an informal group under our umbrella, that works closely with TCDC on the management of our reserves. I would like to thank Harry and Sue Karl and David Macdonald in particular for their contributions. It is important to note that this group has no policy making mandate, that is the domain of TCDC.
Beaches Ltd Subdivisions
As alluded to earlier, TCDC has decided that the Resource Consent for the final tranche of 224 sections for development will be approved as a non-notified consent. However, the conditions of the consent have not, at the time of writing this report, been finalised. MRAI will continue to work closely with Beaches Ltd and TCDC to ensure all issues including appropriate infrastructure are adequate. This is particularly important during the peak summer period. It is expected the full development of the remaining 292 lots will be rolled out over several years. At the conclusion of this development, the total number of lots in Matarangi will be approximately 1800. We have recently sought and obtained from TCDC an assurance that potable water from our municipal supply will not be used to reduce dust issues during the construction period.
The Three waters (Potable, Waste and Stormwater)
The current and future stormwater lakes play an important role in Matarangi especially as a potential resource for open space irrigation. You will all be aware of the issues in 2020 about water quality in the airfield lakes which was identified by MRAI. These lakes, that will eventually be vested into TCDC ownership, subsequent to the completion of the residential developments, are predominantly stormwater lakes. Unfortunately, previous publicity has given the impression that they were suitable for swimming in. Sadly, this is not the case, especially, in times of drought and with the high population of Canadian Geese adding to pollution. MRAI would suggest caution to all of those who choose to use these lakes recreationally. Notwithstanding that, we will continue working with TCDC and Beaches on the stormwater lake issues.
TCDC have recently applied for a resource consent for a future upgrade of the waste-water plant to increase both the capacity and the technology of wastewater treatment to meet future demand. MRAI had representatives over the past couple of years on the working group used to inform this work.
Supply of potable water will remain one of the most discussed and controversial issues in all communities but especially in seaside settlements that are highly populated over the summer period which is also renowned for its periods of droughts. This is especially dominant in the Coromandel where there are many individual communities that required their own separate water treatment plants, and several smaller communities that have no municipal supply and rely entirely on tank water.
Central Government have introduced legislation to reconfigure water management and the creation of separate water authorities to replace local authorities for the oversight of potable water. This will inevitably see the creation of national standards and guidelines that may mandate water metering, demand pricing and better water asset management programmes amongst other things. Potentially, this will remove any local agreements pertaining to supply volumes of water. It is interesting to note, that communities throughout New Zealand that have introduced water meters have seen savings for ratepayers of around 28% per annum due to better consumption habits.
Some of our other activities this year include:
Additional funding to get the security cameras on Matarangi Drive functional (several thousand dollars and thanks to John Hackett)
Contribution to Summer Programme advertising
Contributions to Ring Beach Wetlands Project
Donations to Matarangi Community Trust
My sincere thanks to all of my committee members, especially Grant Short, whose substantial work and analysis on water issues has been immensely valuable.
Matarangi is a vibrant and friendly community that is envied by many. MRAI, along with all of the other community organisations needs to continue to work closely together and MRAI will be doing just that.
Nga mihi
Mark Bedford
Chair MRAI
Item 5: Audited Financial Statements to 31 March 2020
Item 6: Reserves Management Group Report
The Reserves Management Group met three times with TCDC representatives during 2020. Given the Covid outbreak, our ability to work together as a team was hampered by lockdowns and social distancing. Despite this we were able to complete the following tasks:
Spit Planting
A hardy group of 23 individuals along with representatives from The Dunes Golf Club and TCDC met at the Golf Club on Friday 14 August to undertake a planting regime at The Spit.
Erosion at The Spit was becoming a major concern to all parties as high winds continued to erode the sand dunes and throw sand all over the 11th Tee, fairway and green.
Some 1200 plants were planted under TCDC supervision as a trial to stem the erosion and define the walking track around The Spit.
Village Green Planting
The Reserves Management Group, in conjunction with the senior pupils of Te Rerenga School planted a section of the dunes to the right of the walkway down to the beach. It was extremely pleasing to us to see the enthusiasm with which these pupils went about the tasks delegated to them and also to witness first hand, their ideals regarding conservation.
Tennis Courts
A group of volunteers lead by Chris Palmer cleaned up all the tennis courts including the courts beside the Shopping Centre which are privately owned.
Bluff Road Wilding Pines
TCDC in conjunction with Power Co and the Department of Conservation felled the remaining wilding pine trees that were threatening houses and the power lines at the Bluff end. The process took the contractors about a week to complete as every tree had to be held upright whilst being cut.
Other
It was disappointing to see that the shade sails at the Village Green were, once again, vandalized over the Christmas/ New Year period.
The Reserves Management Group received a donation of $5,000 from the Richardsons’ Library. The RMG plans to put this money into new playground equipment when the Village Green playground gets a makeover in the 2021/2022 financial year.
David Macdonald, Chairperson
Sue Karl, Secretary
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