From the ‘Matters under action’ in the briefing papers for tonight’s meeting of the Community Board.

An e-mail sent to the mayor and councilors

Hi Guru,

I have now had time to digest and understand the content of the public notice ‘Withdrawal of Coastal Hazard Provisions from Proposed Kapiti Coast District Plan’ which appeared in Kapiti News on October 25, 2016. I have also been able to discuss it with a large number of affected ratepayers, many of whom were either completely unaware of it or did not understand what it meant. They are not happy!

It seriously concerns me that this action takes us right back to the situation we were in almost 5 years ago — that KCDC proposes ‘managed retreat’.

I also feel it is an insult to those, both within council and within the community, who committed thousands of hours of sincere effort towards finding an acceptable and sensible resolution to our coastal issues.

As this notice appeared in the paper on the same day you were sworn in, and as it is at complete odds with your campaign promise of ‘Build the Wall’, I assume it was not a decision you made or agree with.

I look forward to you and the new council redressing this aberration at your next meeting.

We are all watching very closely…

Regards, Gavin Bradley

Dougherty’s action could impact the value of properties like this.

Previous KCDC Mayor Church, like Dougherty, considered Ratepayers speaking in opposition to their regime’s plans to be a nuisance. But from this Thursday, 10 November, there’ll be a 30-minute public forum before formal KCDC meetings — and also before meetings of the Strategy and Policy Committee, and the Operations and Finance Committee. This will allow people to address the Mayor and councillors about anything they like.

Mayor Gurunathan says this means that people wanting to talk to the Council on items not on the meeting agenda will no longer need to wait until the end of the meeting, which can take hours.

We assume each speaker will be limited to 3 minutes, which is basically what councilors get.

The agenda for Thursday’s meeting is here (pdf)

A reader has commented that the last item on this short agenda is for a public excluded session to consider the appointment of an ‘external’ member of the committee (which is the full council) that considers Dougherty’s performance — which is clearly a breach of the transperancy principle.  What is the purpose of this proposed appointee?  Will this appointee have voting rights?  What pay will this appointee get?  Answers please.

‘Managed Retreat’ was introduced by the Council into the proposed district plan in 2012 and as a result caused widespread panic among individual homeowners.  ‘Managed retreat’ is defined, in the context of coastal erosion, as allowing an area that was not previously exposed to flooding by the sea to become flooded by removing coastal protection.

In December 2012, the KCDC published on their website “In some cases, properties will lose access to water/storm water/sewerage services even before their land or buildings will suffer damage”.  Natural Hazards:  Frequently Asked Questions, Kapiti Coast District Council, 2012.

Following political controversy and independent reviews, the managed retreat provisions were withdrawn from the proposed plan.

However the Council has now decided to bring them back in through ‘the back door’, by keeping the operative plan provisions, which included managed retreat as an option for protection works like sea walls.

Under the heading of Operative District Plan Provisions to Remain in force recently advertised by the Council, subheading C.9.1 Objectives and Policies, Policy 4 states:

POLICY 4: Discourage coastal protection works on the Coastal Marine Area interface where they are not already present and encourage management options such as managed retreat and coastal re-nourishment rather than hard engineering works when protection works are sought.

In the absence of specific coastal hazard provisions, these PDP character provisions look like “managed retreat by stealth”. The KCDC are busily building coastal protection structures to solve their own problems presently, while leaving coastal homeowners high and dry to resolve their own problems in the future.

The KCDC are proposing to “lock in” this type of natural character protection without corresponding coastal hazard mitigation and protection provisions.

This is in my opinion “managed retreat by stealth”.

This plan change process is entirely unfair and ill conceived – and poorly executed from the word go.

In preparing the PDP, the Council appears to have assumed that it will, in the future, adopt a policy of not managing erosion except in some limited areas.

The policy of managed retreat is inapplicable in an accreting coastline.  Also, there is no need for managed retreat in areas where the effects of erosion can be mitigated cost-effectively.

Managed Retreat is premature strategy and needs further Community consultation.

We are where we started in 2012.

Managed retreat or managed retreat by stealth is not the way forward.

Salima Padamsey

Dougherty’s notice follows (click for large versions)

these outdoor ornaments are made of power pylon insulators

The name of this studio at 470 Te Moana Road which has been on the Arts Trail (number 22) these past two weekends, although it is also open between 1 and 4 pm on Saturdays and Sundays between November and March.

The Kōkako is a large slate-grey bird with blue wattles. Once threatened with extinction, there were just 660 Kōkako left in 1999. But today, their numbers have passed 3000 individuals, and populations are recovering thanks to predator control and translocation programmes.

Radio NZ article

the Kapiti coastguard rescue boat

Make sure those smoke alarms are in place and batteries are up to date.  This one is hard-wired into our security and burglar alarm system.

We went along this morning to have a look at the display of equipment at the fire house in Te Moana Road and saw how the brigade operates, not just tackling fires, but also the dispatching of appliances in the control room from the 111 system.  We learned how the 111 operators like to get precise instructions on where the problem is and will ask where the nearest side-street intersection is to confirm.

In Waikanae the aim is to have an appliance on-site within 4 minutes of a call being received.

Local volunteer member Susie Mills was demonstrating cardio-pulmonary resuscitation or CPR on someone who is unconscious.

We asked about fire causes — failings by people rather than things like wiring faults represent most of them.  Traditional factors are things like unclean chimneys in winter, leaving stove-top cooking unattended, even toasters.  These days, electronic devices are a big factor as they can overheat, particularly cellphone chargers which aren’t disconnected.

The guy said that smoke is a major cause of fatalities; in the past combustible materials in houses weren’t too toxic; but these days high concentrations of products from the petro-chemical industries like plastic mean a couple of inhalations of the smoke can be enough to render a person unconscious.

A lot of elderly folks don’t want to be a nuisance when it comes to summoning emergency services, but the fact is the brigade would much rather be called to a false alarm than not be called. It’s a free service.

Hi everyone, I’m delighted to say that we are now taking orders for our new Kapiti-Themed calendar, $15.00 per copy. The above images show the back and front covers – most images are from this year’s Paraparaumu library exhibition. The calendar is A4 size closed, A3 when open for hanging, and light enough for mailing […]

full post: KCPS 2017 Calendar — Kapiti Coast Photographic Society

A little article from the Dominion Post is below.

The question we have is — what happened to the 2013 Mazda CX5 that Dougherty bought with ratepayer money for Mayor Church?  Did Dougherty give it to Church as a farewell thank-you for his loyalty against his critics?

Kapiti Coast’s new mayor has copped a $200 fine for parking his unwarranted car outside the council chambers while he was in a meeting.

K. Gurunathan has admitted the warrant on his 20-year-old Toyota Carib was two months out of date, and says his ticket shows council parking wardens act without favouritism.

And he learned the value of getting a warrant soon afterwards when the car conked out at an intersection with State Highway 1 in Otaki.

Full story