You won’t see billboards like the one above in Santa Barbara…
…but you will in seedier parts of Los Angeles…
The group which reacted following the purchase of the property near the beach by the Waikanae Medical Centre (see earlier) see it as the thin end of the wedge for more commercialisation of the until-now quiet beach area.
The Kapiti Law billboards which appeared on Te Moana Road about 3 years ago are unsubtle advertisements aimed at visitors heading to the beach from State Highway 1. You’ll see plenty of billboards like them in America, to the point that 30 years ago the city of Santa Barbara in California decided to ban them, and signs identifying businesses at their premises have to be kept within certain quite restricted dimensions.
Can we expect more billboards like the Ranford ones? It’s clear that the Olde Waikanae Beach Preservation Society are very concerned about this sort of thing.
Here follows the group’s submission to the Waikanae Community Board on 24 March (reproduced verbatim)
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Submission to the Waikanae Community Board
24 March 2015
Background
1. On 1 March 2015 a public meeting was held at the Waikanae Beach Community Hall. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss proposed/future commercial development at the beach area. 110 people attended this meeting
2. On 21 March 2015 there was a followup meeting to continue discussions and to establish a Community Association. 53 people attended this meeting.
3. The Olde Waikanae Beach Preservation Society (OWBPS) was resurrected at the above meeting. Initial membership: 130 people
4. An OWBPS Committee has been formed of the following people: Charles Norwood (Chair), Brent Cherry, Elisabeth Roll, Quentin Poole, Lorraine Edwards, Gerald Rys and Petra Arreger.
OWBPS submission to the Community Board
In June 2013 The Kapiti District Council commissioned an independent report, titled “Waikanae Beach Character Assessment”; the purpose being to determine whether and to what extent Waikanae Beach could be determined as an area of special character. (Part of the Sec 42 reports into the submissions on the PDP) The finding of this report was that Waikanae Beach has a “coastal location, ‘beachy’ character and a pronounced sense of place.”
It further went on to recommend that Waikanae Beach be regarded as a Character Area.
The Expressway will have a profound effect on Waikanae as a whole and in particular, Waikanae Beach. The interchange at Te Moana Rd will be the entry and exit point for Waikanae and Peka Peka traffic. Whenever there is a significant motorway interchange, businesses will seek to take advantage of the increased traffic flow. They will seek to open businesses in the area.
We cannot allow unplanned and ad-hoc development to ruin our community!
We need to have a full understanding of the implications and social consequences of the expressway going though our area.
We therefore request that the WCB recommends that:
1. KCDC formally recognises that Waikanae Beach be treated as a Special Character Area at the next available meeting.
2. KCDC urgently commissions a report into the implications and social consequences that the expressway and Te Moana Rd interchange will have on the future growth of Waikanae Beach
3. KCDC, after full and immediate consultation with the Waikanae Community, draws up a plan on future commercial development for Waikanae Beach, with the purpose being to prevent ad-hoc commercial development in residential sites
4. KCDC publically informs the community at large that it wishes to consult with the Waikanae Community about future commercial development at Waikanae Beach before accepting any zoning designation changes for Waikanae Beach.
5. KCDC puts a hold on all resource consents for change in zoning designations in Waikanae Beach until the plan is complete
OWBPS Committee