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Duke & Cooke Property News |
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Published on: 20th September 2008 CITY READY TO LOOK AT NEW RATES SYSTEM CITY READY TO LOOK AT NEW RATES SYSTEMOwners of high-value properties in Nelson could pay comparatively more rates in future, and those with lower-value properties might pay less, under a major overhaul of the city’s rating system. Cr Graeme Thomas has been appointed chairman of a newly-formed Nelson City Council rating system working party, which will look at a total rating review in line with the recommendations of last year’s nationwide independent rates inquiry. Nelson Mayor Kerry Marshall recently signalled the review of Nelson’s rating system, after the city imposed one of the highest rates increases in the country this year – 11.95 percent. The increase has left owners of some high-value properties paying up to 20 percent more in rates and charges. Cr Thomas said a change to the rating method could see a shift away from Nelson’s “archaic” method of collecting rates based on land value, to one based on capital or annual property value. (The Nelson Mail, Monday 15 September 2008) LABYRINTH ROCKS TO BECOME PUBLIC RESERVEGolden Bay’s popular former tourist attraction Labyrinth Rocks could soon open again to the public as a council reserve – but the community will have to do the weeding. The award-winning park’s caretaker Dave Whittaker, who celebrated his 64th birthday on Saturday, was joined by a crowd of more than 70 people on a free tour of the 2ha karst limestone outcrop of canyons and crevices. Tasman District Council environmental educator Claire Webster, who is acting as a link between the council and the weedbusters group, confirmed it was the council’s intention to open the reserve to the public. She said the parks and reserves committee was to take over the management of the council-owned site. The land was formerly managed by the engineering committee. (The Nelson Mail, Tuesday 16 September 2008) HERITAGE PRECINCT TO MARK TAKAKA HISTORYPictorial plaques illustrating Takaka’s past will soon “bring history alive” in the township. In an initiative by the Golden Bay Heritage Group, up to 15 metal plaques will be placed on historic buildings in Commercial St. A plaque illustrating one of the first known photographs of Takaka, taken in 1876 when the settlement was surrounded by thick native forest, has already been produced. (The Nelson Mail, Tuesday 16 September 2008) PARK HUT GIVEN HISTORIC STATUSAn old surveyors’ hut in Kahurangi National Park has been given historic status, but will remain a shelter stop for trampers in the area, the Department of Conservation says. The hut, built in 1970 by the former Ministry of Works in the Mackay Downs area of the park, was to have been relocated after a review of DOC’s recreational facilities, because it was not attracting high use. (The Nelson Mail, Tuesday 16 September 2008) LEASING ‘OPTION’ IF PARK UPGRADE CANNEDNelson City Council could consider leasing out some of the land at Trafalgar Park if a proposed upgrade does not go ahead, Nelson Mayor Kerry Marshall says. Cr Miccio, who has been driving the planned $7 million upgrade of the park so the council can bid for the Rugby World Cup 2011 matches, said if the upgrade did not go ahead, Trafalgar Park could not be kept as an idle asset. The Nelson City Council has now put the proposal out for public consultation, keeping it on track to bid to host a Rugby World Cup game or team in 2011. The council announced yesterday it had extended the closing date for submissions on the proposal to Monday October 13, to comply with the requirements of the Local Government Act. (The Nelson Mail, Wednesday 17 September 2008) AFFORDABILITY IMPROVESHome loan affordability has again improved in the top of the South Island. The latest Wizard Home Loans first-home buyer index shows that in Nelson and Marlborough in August, it took 74.3 percent of one median income of a person in the 25 to 29 age group to pay the mortgage on a lower-quartile-priced house, down from 75.5 percent in July. The index was 85.1 percent a year ago and 63.8 percent three years ago. For typical buyers, it now takes 81.2 percent of one median income to pay the mortgage on a median-priced house purchased in August, down from July’s 82.7 percent. It was 87.7 percent a year ago and 58.8 percent five years ago. (The Nelson Mail, Wednesday 17 September 2008) SEWER PIPE ‘AT EXTREME RISK OF FAILURE’A crisis is looming in the Nelson region’s sewerage infrastructure, with massive expenditure planned, sparking one city councillor to air a suggestion that people’s diets could be partly to blame. The 25-year-old pipeline from Monaco to Bell Island was currently at “extreme risk of failure”, Nelson Regional Sewerage Business Unit general manager Mike Schruer told councillors yesterday. Business unit board chair Donna Hiser said the unit had no way of finding out how big the risk was. The Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council are joint shareholders in the regional sewerage business unit. Ratepayers are facing bills running into tens of millions of dollars to upgrade sewerage infrastructure in the estuary. (The Nelson Mail, Friday 19 September 2008) TDC TO OKAY FIRST PARTS OF ITS DELAYED RESOURCE PLThe Tasman District Council will make the first and second parts of its Tasman Resource Management Plan operative on November 1. At a meeting in Richmond yesterday, the council agreed to go live with those parts of the plan. The council first notified its proposed plan 12 years ago, and was given a roasting in May by a delegation of resource management planners and lawyers for taking so long to finalise the plan. The Nelson City Council made its resource management plan operative in 2004. (The Nelson Mail, Friday 19 September 2008) PARTIES SIGN CLEAN-UP CONTRACTThe Tasman District Council and the Ministry for the Environment have signed the final document that sets out the amount the council has to pay for the experimental $12 million clean-up at Mapua. Council environment and planning manager Dennis Bush-King said the document was signed two weeks ago, despite the clean-up starting in September 2004 and finishing last year. He said the contract meant the council had to pay a $2 million loan towards the $12 million bill for the clean-up. This was the understanding that the council and the ministry had had from the beginning, he said. The remediation of the former Fruitgrowers’ Chemical Site was the subject of a damming report from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Dr Jan Wright. The district council as landowner and consent administrator was unable to prosecute the Environment Ministry, which ran the clean-up, for breaching its consent conditions because under the Resource Management Act, the Crown cannot be prosecuted. (The Nelson Mail, Saturday 20 September 2008) PROPERTY WATCHSands units change hands
The Nelson Mail, Saturday 20 September 2008 |
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