A ‘‘derelict’’ part of Bridge St should be revitalised by demolishing half a city block and starting again, says a former Nelson city councillor.
Seddon Marshall, a developer and a councillor for 33 years, said rebuilding and rezoning both sides of Bridge St from Collingwood St to the entrance of Buxton Sq would allow fresh commercial growth and encourage inner-city living.
He said the buildings in that part of Bridge St were ‘‘demolition fodder’’ and should be replaced by ‘‘new style retail’’ on the ground floor and residential apartments on the floors above.
Marshall said some of the area had been done up but ‘‘it’s still rough as guts’’.
To get the land value up Marshall said would require some lateral thinking and entrepreneurial vision that was ‘‘sustainable, decent development’’ to ‘‘clean out all the rubbish.
Marshall had spoken to Nelson mayor Rachel Reese about his ideas which she said the council was open to.
Reese said there was plenty of potential for the future of Bridge St but it required building owners to come forward who were ready to change their property.
With building requirements becoming more strict due to earthquake requirements she said it was a good excuse to redesign parts of the city.
(The Nelson Mail, Tuesday, November 22nd, 2016)
Who’s liable when a heritage tree falls, crushes a shed and causes more than $10,000 worth of damage to a classic car?
That was the question at the centre of a Disputes Tribunal hearing between a Nelson couple, their neighbours, the city council and Nelmac.
On February 13, a large branch of an English oak tree overhanging Douglas Lamond and Katherine Kirk’s home in Palm Ave, Stoke, broke off during the night.
The tree, located on a neighbouring property, is listed as a heritage tree under the city council’s resource management plan.
The council contracts Nelmac to inspect and maintain heritage trees.
But a Disputes Tribunal decision, released on Tuesday, has found that the council and Nelmac are not liable for the tree or the damage it caused.
The claim was dismissed, the referee finding that Lamond and Kirk have ‘‘no legal remedy’’ to recover the cost of the damage.
(The Nelson Mail, Wednesday, November 23rd, 2016)
Heritage New Zealand has given permission to the Tasman District Council to demolish the historic Golden Bay grandstand.
Supporters of the grandstand are now deciding whether they will appeal that decision in the 15 day appeal period.
Heritage New Zealand senior archeologist Pam Bain said in a decision released on Monday that it would not protect the grandstand because it had been extensively modified over the years.
However, she said that it did possess important social and historical values, therefore specific conditions were attached to the authority, including guidelines for encountering and preserving archeological evidence.
The authority to demolish may not be exercised during the appeal period.
Co-founder of the Grandstand Society Jill Pearson said the group would probably appeal the decision.
The 117-year-old building is earmarked for demolition to make way for a car park as part of the new multimillion-dollar recreation centre under construction near Takaka.
(The Nelson Mail, Thursday, November 24th, 2016)
Buyer appetite for apartments in Nelson is surging as a number of new developments take shape.
Bayleys Real Estate agent Tony Vining said the local property market was already responding to an influx of fresh apartment developments due to the Special Housing Area (SHA) accord.
Housing Minister Nick Smith and the Nelson City Council approved 18 SHA complexes this year, which offer the region high density housing and also apartment-style living.
The SHAs were designed by the Government to increase housing supply and allowed developers to prepare their land and build houses at a faster rate.
Vining said property buyers had jumped at the recent launch of Saltwater Creek and Ocean Lodge apartments which were both approved as SHAs. Vining is marketing both developments.
He said buyer excitment was building for the upcoming central city Bett Carpark apartments and soon after that the Wakatu development on Paru Paru Rd.
Saltwater Creek was launched earlier this month as a $30 million six-storey apartment complex overlooking Anzac and Rutherford parks. Construction of the Haven Rd SHA is set to start in April but Vining said there was already buyer interest.
The complex will house 32 apartments that range from $1.95 million to single bedroom units priced at $395,000.
Ocean Lodge in Tahunanui was ‘‘quietly’’ put to the market earlier this year. Vining said the multimillion-dollar apartment block had at least 100 interested buyers for the 39 dwellings.
He said ready to live apartments in Nelson were snapped up ‘‘virtually straight away’’ when advertised and at least 250 people were on a waiting list for apartment sales.
In 2015, NCC set the target of consenting 720 new dwellings over the next three years through the SHA process.
Nelson City Council has received three building consents for apartment blocks in the last quarter from July to August.
(The Nelson Mail, Friday, November 23rd, 2016)
The Nelson City Council says property owners are ‘‘legally responsible’’ for heritage trees following a dispute over a broken branch that crushed a $23,000 classic car.
Palm Ave resident Douglas Lamond’s shed and 1973 HQ Holden were badly damaged by a large branch that broke off an English Oak heritage tree on his neighbours’ property in Stoke in February.
Lamond and his partner Katherine Kirk made a claim in the Disputes Tribunal to recover the costs from the council, Nelmac or his neighbours.
Council group manager infrastructure Alec Louverdis told the tribunal that the council inspected and maintained heritage trees out of ‘‘goodwill’’ and had no statutory obligation to do so.
Louverdis refused to answer these questions, directing all queries to the council’s media manager, Paul Shattock.
Shattock said the council’s resource management plan allows for ‘‘minor trimming’’ of heritage trees. However, major trimming or removal required resource consent and needed to be carried out by a qualified arborist.
The resource consent application costs $500.
Shattock said the council paid for the immediate clean-up of the tree and the subsequent emergency works at a cost of $19,226. However, the council will not pay for the damage to Lamond’s car.
(The Nelson Mail, Friday, November 23rd, 2016)
Rules may be tightened on outdoor burning around Richmond and Motueka after five breaches of the air quality standard during winter.
Tasman District Council resource scientist Anna MacKenzie told councillors the five exceedences were surprising given the latest winter was warmer and windier than average. Last winter there were three exceedences during winter.
In a report, MacKenzie says there were numerous outdoor fires on the Waimea Plains in June and July.
The largest involved the burning of two large orchard blocks of about 20 hectares at a distance of 6km from the Richmond monitoring site in Oxford St.
This year’s exceedances correlated with complaints and webcam images of outdoor burning in the orchards around the Richmond airshed.
That national standard is under review and it is anticipated the focus of the new regulations will be on finer particles (PM2.5) over an annual average basis, rather than short-term exposure to PM10.
MacKenzie suggests once the new standard is released, ‘‘tighter restrictions on outdoor burning for areas in and around Richmond and Motueka should be considered’’.
The councillors were told it was likely to be harder to meet a PM2.5 standard.
(The Nelson Mail, Friday, November 23rd, 2016)
After six months of renovations Mitre 10 Motueka is ready to re-open.
The 50-year-old store has doubled in size with a new drive-through trade yard and bigger garden centre.
Store owner David Richards said community groups gave more than 250 hours of labour throughout the re-fit.
Originally Wilkins and Field hardware store in 1966, it sported wooden floors and covered 600sqm which was later expanded to 1200sqm in the 1990s.
This latest upgrade has expanded the store to 2,700sqm which is almost three times the size of the original store. The number of carparks has increased from 10 to 55. The new store design will also incorporate a Maori carving to acknowledge the history and heritage of the surrounding land.
(The Nelson Mail, Friday, November 23rd, 2016)
”Follow your inner moonlight;
don't hide the madness”.
Allen Ginsberg