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Issue 1 – 15 March 2019

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Issue 1 – 15 March 2019DELIVERED FORTNIGHTLY AN INDEPENDENT VOICEIssue 1 – 15 March 2019DELIVERED FORTNIGHTLY AN INDEPENDENT VOICEIssue 1 – 15 March 2019DELIVERED FORTNIGHTLY AN INDEPENDENT VOICEIssue 90 – Sep 16, 2022 FOR THE SHORE

Ryman adds building to Takapuna village... p5 Rosmini basketballers win big... p11

Local body election guide... p13-19 Coastal development up to 16 storeys in new plan

A massive development of 553 homes of up to 16 storeys is proposed in a private plan change for the old Harbourside Church site on Esmonde Rd, Takapuna.

Council has already granted consent for two seven storey buildings on the site: one for visitor accommodation of 164 studio units, 18 one bedroom units and four penthouses; the second building would include 86 residential apartments. During the consenting process developer KBS Capital undertook a masterplan review of the land, which resulted in the plan change application prior to a stage three part of the development. Works could take 15 years. In addition to the increase in size of the planned development on the 2.15ha site, planners for KBS say the new Takapuna 2 precinct proposed in plan change 85 is the best way to safeguard and enhance the sensitive coastline alongside the land.

The private plan change was notified on 9 September and is open for submissions until 7 October. Documents for the plan are on the Auckland Council website.

Westlake Boys reigns supreme in Blues rugby region

Touch down... Westlake celebrates a try by Xiedin Urlich with five minutes to go in the school’s Blues-region final against Kelston. The 23-20 win put it in the national Top 4 finals. Story, page 9

Auckland mayoral hopefuls will front up to local voters at a public meeting next week, while council candidates will do the same a week later.

The meet-the-candidate meetings follow a series of sessions across the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board area, in which many of the 20 people standing for local-board seats got to put their case and answer questions.

Choice is narrower in the mayoral race and for the two North Shore ward seats on Auckland Council.

The Meet the Mayoral Candidates evening is on Monday, 19 September, at 7.30pm at the Milford Baptist Church, 3 Dodson Ave, Milford. The following Monday, 26 September, also at 7.30pm is a Meet the Council Candidates evening.

Frontrunners for the job of mayor are sitting councillor and Labour-backed candidate Efeso Collins, cost-cutting crusader Wayne Brown, former Heart of the City boss Viv Beck and 2019 third-placed candidate Craig Lord. Sitting councillors Chris Darby, who chairs the Planning Committee, and Richard Hills, who chairs the Environment and Climate Change Committees are seeking re-election, but this time face an alternative conservative ticket of Community and Residents duo George Wood and Danielle Grant, both of whom are on local boards, along with independents.

The evenings are jointly hosted by the Milford Residents Association and the Castor Bay Residents and Ratepayers Association, along with the church, which has provided the venue for such meetings previously.

Residents are invited to bring a written question, with the opportunity afterwards for one-on-one conversation over a cup of tea.

Voting papers are posted to registered voters from 16-21 September, with voting between 16 September and midday on 8 October. Anyone posting their ballots needs to get them in the mail by 4 October. Voting papers can also be dropped to public libraries and council service centres.

Preliminary results are declared on October 8, with finalised results notified from 13-19 October.

Anyone not yet registered to vote can do so, but only by arranging a special vote with an electoral officer, no later than 7 October. See votelocal.co.nz

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Briefs Local lick gets nod

Takapuna Beach Cafe has won recognition in the Icecream and Gelato Awards. Its double chocolate gelato was picked the nation’s best chocolate entry, in a category the judges said was hotly contested. The 2022 supreme winner was TipTop for its Kapiti Fig and Manuka Honey ice-cream, with the best boutique brand award going to Little ‘Lato.

Toilet demo

Demolition work began last week on the fenced-off toilet block next to Potters Park in Takapuna. This includes asbestos removal. The block will be replaced for three or more years by a temporary two-cubicle facility. The issue sparked division among members of the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board and has been a talking point leading into the local body elections. Meanwhile, paving work will begin this month at the Hurstmere Rd entrance to the Takapuna town square. The work is due to be completed in December.

Speed camera go-slow

Cameras recording drivers sneaking into the transit lane on Forrest Hill Rd are still not working, Auckland Transport says. The $433,000 project to monitor the lanes was meant to be operational in May, but supply chain delays meant all the parts had not yet arrived.

Big haul for hospice

Harbour Hospice raised $405,000 from its recent annual Vintners’ Brunch and auctions. The fundraiser, in its 25th year, is the charity’s largest annual event and features more than 20 restaurants and wineries, including Takapuna’s Nanam. Money raised will support the centre’s work, including at its Shea Tce, Takapuna, headquarters.

Australian success

Running for their country, Westlake Boys High School students Alfie Steedman and Cameron Maunder have shown the best Australian runners their heels. The two attended the recent Australian Cross Country Championships in Adelaide, with Year 11 Alfie winning gold and Year 12 Cameron silver in their respective races. This backs up their successful season taking multiple medals in New Zealand competition.

Squash masters champ

North Shore Squash Club’s Suk Hee Kim won the women’s national 45-50 masters squash title in Hamilton last weekend.

Maggie Paris is coining it, thanks to her natural curiosity.

The Takapuna eight-year-old became interested in the sight of people using metal detectors on the beach, and says she “kind of asked for one”.

Since receiving a detector for her birthday several months ago, Maggie has amassed a collection of 60 coins, and is determined to find more.

She visits local beaches, parks and playgrounds with family once or twice a week, happily spending an hour or more scanning for buried treasure.

“There’s a lot of bottle caps,” she says ruefully. More unusually, she also found a dog collar.

While the unwanted bottle caps go in the rubbish, the coins she finds are banking up nicely in a glass jewellery box she keeps in her bedroom. She found seven in one lucky day, and even her backyard has yielded a halfpenny.

She has enough $1 and $2 coins to have a spend-up, but Maggie is more intent on accumulation. “I just like finding different coins,” she says. “I get a bit bored of finding normal coins.”

Her favourite is an 83-year-old New Zealand threepence, minted in 1939. “Whenever I find anything, I look at the date.”

She also researches her finds online, and says: “If the threepence was 1935 it would be worth thousands of dollars, but not the 1939.”

Maggie’s mother, Greta, says the absorbing hobby is something her self-contained daughter, who attends the Age School, is learning a lot from.

The threepence, points out Maggie, has a picture of then King George VI, not the Queen. As well as New Zealand currency, Maggie has found coins from Australia and the United Kingdom.

Greta, who found Maggie’s child-sized beeping metal detector online, notes that when summer brings more people to the beach lost jewellery finds might be more likely.

Maggie has found jewellery before, but not with her metal detector. She spotted a greenstone necklace at the bottom of a swimming pool and handed it in.

For other would-be collectors, Maggie reveals that beneath trees is a good place to search, as are playgrounds, where coins spill from pockets.

Adult detectorists have passed on advice to the young enthusiast. Her mother says some of these passionate people spend up to $3000 on their machines, but for her and Maggie beachcombing is just a nice shared activity.

“Other parents might want to know that actually it’s good for a time-consuming thing.”

Metal detective... Maggie Paris, aged 8, with her haul of coins

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