Boating club floats new plan for heritage building

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The Takapuna Boating Club is looking to expand its operations back to its original site in Bayswater, in an ambitious plan to renovate a dilapidated local landmark.

The revitalisation of a heritage boating-club building at Bayswater is a step closer after Auckland Council signed off on moves towards loosening legislation governing its use.

The club hopes to use the lower two floors of the wooden Bayswater boathouse, and look for a commercial tenant, such as a cafe or restaurant, for the top floor.

Community use is also to be part of the plan, which includes decking over a silted-up saltwater pool to provide walkway access from the marina area to a waterside reserve to the north.

Club vice-commodore James Jordan told the Flagstaff the club was keen to bring sailing back to Bayswater, in addition to its existing activities off The Strand at Takapuna Beach.

Its owner, the Takapuna Boating Club, wants to restore the building and lease some of it out, partly as a cafe or restaurant, mak ing its restoration and long-term future more viable. But to do so, conditions enshrined in a 1923 Act of Parliament restricting the building’s use to boating and community purposes need to be changed.

“We believe it’s our responsibility to return the club to what it was,” he said. “[The building] can never be repeated.”

“This is a real step further,” club commodore James Jordan said last week.

Renovations to the heritage-listed boathouse could cost up to $2 million and would likely be done in stages as money allowed, said Jordan. The building was structurally sound. Its exterior could not be altered, but interior alterations could be undertaken.

A community meeting in the next month or two would inform locals about plans and seek feedback. “We’ve got to get some ideas for it.”

Brighter future... Different uses loom for the heritage boat-club building at Bayswater North Shore ward councillors Chris Darby and Richard Hills put the motion to the council governing body last month.

The reopening of the bridge from Lyford Reserve has beeen welcomed by Sunnynook residents. The popular route to get to Sunnynook Primary School was closed after flood damage in January. It was reopened shortly after the start of term two, following council repairs.

ANCAD meeting

Shore Junction Youth and Community Director Josh Martin will speak at the ANCAD Community Network Meeting from 12-2pm on 18 May at Shore Junction, 19 Northcote Rd, Takapuna.

Venues in the running

Ideas mooted several years back to sell the building were “completely off the table”, he said, with the club now keen to work with the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board and the community on enhancing it.

This could include using the building’s middle level for meeting space, available for community use.

The council is involved because the original legislation names the former Auckland Harbour Board and the Takapuna Borough Council.

Due to the building’s complicated legal history, dating back to a 1923 Act of Parliament, the club has had its hands tied in renting out the building for gain. Use for boating and bathing rooms and as a social hub was allowed for.

But North Shore MP Simon Watts has brokered a possible solution, working with political advisers and the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives to come up with a draft legislative change. If passed, this would allow the club to generate revenue to properly maintain and upgrade the building.

Jordan said the club was keen to bring more boating and sailing back to Bayswater, which was its original home base. Although tides were a factor limiting the scope of sailing from there – a key reason the club moved its base to Takapuna – it was a good location for the growing sports of foiling and kiteboarding. A windsurfer hire company already operated from the building.

Watts is sponsoring a local bill to amend the 1923 Act. With council sign-off secured, he expects to get it on the legislative programme before this year’s general election.

Until the 1950s, the boating club was a community hub, hosting dances, and with a now inoperative saltwater swimming pool.

Three local venues have been nominated for this year’s Lewisham Awards, a hospitality industry competition. Stanley Ave Wine Bar and Bistro and Tokki restaurant in Milford are vying with Fantail & Turtle in Takapuna for the Outstanding Local Establishment – North title, with Tiny Triumphs bar in Devonport the other nominee in the category.

Warm winter forecast

It is believed a bill to enact the change would need to be sponsored by the body closest to the original vesting entity, which was the Takapuna Borough Council, so it may fall to the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board or Auckland Council itself.

Back to the future... Takapuna Boating Club’s Baywater building as it is today (top), and an impression of how it might look after renovation (above) club that it would likely take around a year to get a bill through select-committee processes if it attracted cross-party support, as he hoped it would. He was not able to sponsor a local bill, but would do what he could to usher it through.

Jordan credited North Shore MP Simon Watts and the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board for their help in advancing the matter.

Watts last week outlined to four members of the local board and representatives of the boating club to let Bayswater locals know its intentions. “Nobody wants to see the building fall down,” she said.

Jordan said fundraising would be needed to meet an expected cost of $750,000 to get the building up to standard. Most of that would be spent on rebuilding three levels of decks and exterior repainting.

First, the local board or council would need to notify Parliament of the intention to put the bill forward.

Board members present were generally supportive of the idea of the boathouse being revitalised, but wanted advice from Auckland Council’s legal team to better understand the legislation and processes.

Auckland has a 50 per cent chance of above average temperatives from May through July, says NIWA. Its climate outlook also reckons rainfall totals have a 40 per cent chance of being above normal, partly due to northerlies in May.

Hospice programme aims to make journey easier for patients

Board chair Ruth Jackson urged the boating

A Harbour Hospice North Shore programme that aims to help people more easily access early support is the focus of fundraising in the organisation’s upcoming awareness week (15-21 May).

Public Meeting on Crime

with Simon Watts MP for North Shore and guest Simeon Brown MP, Spokesperson for Police

Its Open Doors programme brings people into the Shea Tce, Takapuna, facility fort-

Monday 12 July, 7pm The Rose Centre, School Rd, Belmont nightly for get-togethers. Attendees meet and eat with others in a similar situation and get advice on how to set themselves up better at home, before they require in-patient hospice care.

Jordan also outlined the plan to a local-board forum last week, where he said a staged renovation over two or three years was envisaged, once the legislation was changed.

“Living with a life-limiting illness can affect thoughts, interactions with others, physical health and independence,” hospice chief executive Jan Nichols says.

The club, which was looking at setting up a separate trust to run the building, was happy to work with Auckland Council’s heritage team, he said.

Counselling and social work services are also available.

The building was originally transported by barge from Panmure. Its roof was replaced in 2011.

Open Doors empowered the growing numbers of people living longer to deal with the challenges, she said.

Board member Toni van Tonder said, “Everyone shares an aspiration to see this building brought back to life.”

But member Aidan Bennett noted the “chicken and egg” aspect to getting the project underway. “The community, the council and the Government, all have to be lined up in a row.”