Sports and community groups in Stoke strongly support the proposed community centre project going ahead - but there is some division.
Nelson City Council will vote on whether or not to proceed with the Greenmeadows development at a meeting on tomorrow.
The project hit a road block last month when the preferred tenderer increased the estimated cost by $350,000. This came after an earlier $540,000 cost increase in July last year.
The three options the council will vote on are: Do not proceed with the project; increase the budget by $350,000; or reduce the scope of the project to make savings.
(The Nelson Mail, Wednesday, September 7th, 2016)
Nelson City Council has approved spending an extra $350,000 on the Stoke Community and Sports Centre despite concerns that the cost has ‘‘ballooned out time and time again’’.
The motion to increase the budget to $6.49 million passed by 12 votes to one at a meeting on Thursday. Councillor and mayoral candidate Pete Rainey was the only one in opposition.
The project was held up last month when the preferred tenderer increased the estimated cost by $350,000. This came after an earlier $540,000 cost increase in July last year.
Rainey said while he supported progress in Stoke, the cost of the project had ‘‘ballooned out time and time again’’.
Deputy mayor Paul Matheson said the project was exciting ‘‘because it’s the anchor project for Stoke’’.
(The Nelson Mail, Friday, September 9th, 2016)
The Nelson Society of Modellers has been given an extra six months to raise $590,000 towards upgrading the ‘‘filthy’’ Tahunanui Modellers’ Pond.
At a meeting yesterday, the Nelson City Council unanimously agreed to give the society until February next year to finalise additional funding to help pay for concreting the bottom of the pond, removing contaminated material and installing subsurface drainage and aerators.
The society had requested more time to confirm funding because it wouldn’t hear back on the outcomes of grant applications until later in the year.
The society has raised $7000 from public donations and model train rides, $300 from raffles, and $2000 from Nelson North Lions Club conditional on the work going ahead. It has also applied for $200,000 grants from the Rata Foundation and Lotteries Commission.
The council will provide $600,000 for the upgrade, which was estimated to cost $1.16 million plus ongoing annual maintenance of around $45,000. If the society can come up with the required $590,000 by the end of February next year, the option to modify the pond will be included in the 2017/18 Annual Plan.
(The Nelson Mail, Friday, September 9th, 2016)
Much like his infamous career, Richard Nixon is headed south.
A life-sized bronze statue of the disgraced U.S. president which stood in the manicured grounds of publishing business Haldeman LLC in Wakefield, near Nelson, has been auctioned off to a Christchurch buyer on Trade Me.
The gated property, with a 14-bedroom mansion modelled on the White House, was part-owned by Haldeman director Tony Katavich. In 2013, Katavich said people were unaware, or chose to ignore, Nixon’s peacekeeping achievements, particularly with China and Russia.
The property was sold last month to a family company owned by Wakefield Hotel proprietors the Vercoes, Bruce Vercoe confirmed on Friday.
Vercoe said 52 Edward Street joined onto the neighbouring hotel, which ‘‘gives us a few options’’.
The custom-built property that Haldeman moved into in 2012 also features an artificial lake on 1.4 hectares of landscaped grounds. It was put on the market in June with an asking price of $1.1 million.
(The Nelson Mail, Saturday, September 10th, 2016)
The proposed Fringed Hill gondola and adventure park project has past a ‘‘real milestone’’ with the council agreeing to fund a business case to investigate its commercial viability.
Nelson City Council voted 10-2 to provide $50,000 in funding for the pre-commercial business case at a meeting yesterday.
Nelson Cycle Lift Society spokesman Jo Rainey said the ‘‘world class’’ project was technically feasible and the business case would focus on its economic viability.
The findings will then be used to approach potential investors for backing, including iwi, he said.
He said the council funding was a ‘‘real milestone’’.
The project has been compared to similar gondolas and adventure parks in Rotorua and Queenstown and Rainey said it has ‘‘absolutely colossal potential’’ for Nelson.
The project was initially proposed as a simple chairlift to carry mountainbikers up to the network of tracks on Fringed Hill, but had since expanded to include an adventure park with the potential for zipline, luge and other activities.
If the business case proved the project to be viable, Rainey said he hoped to see development under way on Fringed Hill, above the Brook Valley, by summer 2018.
Rainey had previously said that the gondola would be the highest in New Zealand, taking passengers to the Fringed Hill summit at a height of 800 metres above sea level.
It would have a 610m vertical lift, be 1.6km long, and take about six minutes to reach the top.
The business case was expected to be completed by March next year.
(The Nelson Mail, Saturday, September 10th, 2016)
A new water scheme unveiled last month as a much-cheaper alternative to the proposed $82.5 million Waimea dam would not need general ratepayer support, its proponents say.
Proposed by a group of irrigators from Waimea Irrigators and Waters Users Inc, the scheme involves a series of clay-lined, inground reservoirs alongside the Wairoa and Waimea rivers, to be filled during winter months.
Spokesman for the group, consultant Brian Halstead, said the project would be user pays.
He released calculations that showed the total capital required for the project would be about $35m, which included land purchases, consenting, design and possible cost overruns. The cost for TDC was estimated at $6.3m. Indications were the best ownership model would be a partnership or company involving irrigators and the council.
Halstead said the size of the irrigable area under the reservoir scheme was 3000 hectares, ‘‘which was more in line with the present demand, being just over half of the 5850ha in the dam proposal’’. No new crops were anticipated that would require additional irrigation.
(The Nelson Mail, Saturday, September 10th, 2016)
Thousands of home sellers are being tripped up at the last minute by unapproved building work, costing them money, time and lowering home values.
An expert panel revealed the scale of the nationwide problem in a talk in Northwest Nelson that is costing home owners millions every year.
Property valuer Kim Bowie said the high risk associated with unknown costs of the illegal building work and what would be required to bring the building up to a legal standard, placed the seller at a significant disadvantage.
Lawyer Jon Tidswell said mortgage agreement clauses state you must get consent before doing any building work.
‘‘If you haven’t got that you’re in breach of your mortgage,’’ he said. ‘‘But if there’s something that may cause a breakdown in your banking relationship... if you don’t have the correct (consent) in place, you are likely uninsured.’’
Liability can carry on for years even after the sale and can emerge at any time, he said.
Tidswell’s advice if you’re a buyer is to do your homework on the property, order a Land Information Memorandum (LIM) report and check council files and have a building inspector check the property prior to purchase.
(The Nelson Mail, Saturday, September 10th, 2016)
“Life is growth.
If we stop growing, technically and spiritually,
we are as good as dead.”
Morihei Ueshiba