More houses could be built on smaller sections in central Richmond with moves to change the planning rules.
The Tasman District Council has been investigating the demand for medium-density housing in Richmond and how best to encourage it.
Over the past year, the council appointed Richmond Residential Advisory Group has been helping investigate where and how higher density housing should be managed.
The advisory group’s report was presented to the TDC’s environment and planning committee last week and stressed the need for a simple and flexible planning process.
Committee chairman Stuart Bryant said community feedback had confirmed a desire for higher density options.
As a result, the council had agreed to consult with the community with the aim of beginning the formal process to change the rules in the Tasman Resource Management Plan by mid 2016.
Higher-density housing was already provided for in the Richmond South and Richmond West development areas on the outskirts of town ‘‘and this process will improve on the existing provisions for central Richmond’’.
(The Nelson Mail, Monday, October 12, 2015)
Out-of-town house hunters are keeping the Nelson market busy with a 33 per cent surge in properties sold in September compared with the same month last year.
The latest Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) figures release showed Nelson had 87 sales last month compared with 65 in September last year.
Bayley’s Real Estate residential salesman Jeremy Matthews said strong interest from Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch along with Kiwi expats were driving the interest, particularly in the upper end of the market.
REINZ spokesman Daryl Marshall said open homes had been well attended across the board with plenty of out-of-town buyer interest.
He said if the demand keeps up Nelson could be heading into a ‘‘bumper season’’.
(The Nelson Mail, Tuesday, October 13, 2015)
River water quality in the Tasman region has improved overall, says the Tasman District Council.
Tasman mayor Richard Kempthorne, a member of the Land and Water Forum, said the results were a testament to the commitment shown by the council, landowners and local communities to clean up the rivers.
Kempthorne said the major positive trends identified in the report included significant improvement in water clarity at eight sites including the upper Reservoir Creek, Sherry, Onahau, Onekaka, Mangles, Buller and Motueka rivers. There was also reduction in disease-causing organisms, particularly in the Sherry, Little Sydney and Motupipi rivers but also at Wairoa, Wangapeka and Motupiko; low levels of E.coli in the Aorere River and most of the district’s major rivers; dramatic reduction in dissolved reactive phosphorus (which can encourage the growth of nuisance algae) in the Motupipi River; hundreds of fish passage barriers removed from streams in Golden Bay and Tasman Bay.
However, there was still work to be done. In his report, James said that many of the issues reported five and 10 years ago showed little improvement.
(The Nelson Mail, Tuesday, October 13, 2015)
Water restrictions are likely to be imposed across parts of Tasman in the next fortnight if no rain falls.
The council’s Dry Weather Taskforce met on Tuesday, the earliest the group has ever been called together, to assess the district’s river flows and aquifer levels.
Environment and planning manager Dennis Bush-King said the Moutere, Waimea, Wai-iti and Motupiko catchments were looking very dry.
The level of the Waimea River was falling and it was likely permitted Waimea Plains irrigators would face stage one restrictions in a fortnight if the dry weather continued.
The taskforce would be meeting regularly to monitor the situation, he said.
Residents could help by using water wisely and taking steps to manage the land for very dry conditions.
(The Nelson Mail, Wednesday, October 14, 2015)
The demolition of one of Nelson’s most ornate buildings has not sparked an official protest.
Trafalgar St’s Trathen’s building is to be demolished mid-next year and of the 25 public submissions to the resource consent not one objected to the demolition.
Twenty-four of the submissions supported the demolition and one submission, from Heritage New Zealand, took a neutral stance.
Many of the submissions to the resource consent process said it was regrettable to lose the ‘‘beautiful’’ building, but due to the circumstances it was the only affordable option.
The 1920s building will be replaced by a multi million-dollar two-storey complex with space for upstairs outdoor dining by next Christmas.
(The Nelson Mail, Thursday, October 15, 2015)
A vibrant outdoor hub with pop-up shipping containers, not unlike those seen in Melbourne and Christchurch, is among potential plans for an empty site in central Nelson.
The earthquake-prone Bridge St building next to the Bridge Street Collective came tumbling down this month, and owner Galen King said it might be a long time before another permanent building replaced it.
He said while nothing was set in stone yet, an ideal result would be for shipping containers of food and retail along with a children’s playground to fill the space. ‘‘The idea is to create something that’s adding value to this part of town, something that can allow children and families to relax in the city,’’ he said.
‘‘But we don’t quite know what’s possible yet, we are working on how we can make it sustainable.’’
Original plans to expand co-working space the Bridge Street Collective, which King also owns, were put on the back-burner given the existing amount of empty office spaces in Nelson already, said King.
He hoped to gauge interest from the public to see what types of shipping containers could operate in the space, King said.
(The Nelson Mail, Friday, October 16, 2015)
Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.
Isaac Asimov