Everything Kāpiti
Ngā Pitopito kōrero mai i te Kaunihera o Kāpiti
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Kia ora Kāpiti
The weather's heating up so it's great to see so many people getting reacquainted with our pools and splash pads. Last weekend was a busy one across our district with the final weekend of the Kāpiti Coast Art Trail 2022 and Kāpiti Half attracting large crowds.
In this week's edition we update you on our work to spruce up the Raumati South Memorial Hall; put a spotlight on groundwater levels and the planning and regulatory activities we delivered in 2021/22; tell you how to catch the final of our Spring Love Your Compost sessions, and much more!
Mā te wā – have a great week.
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What's new
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Thank you to all our Art Trailers!
The weather gods smiled on us once again, wrapping up the Kāpiti Coast Art Trail 2022 in stunning sunshine after a rainy start last weekend.
A huge thank you to everyone involved: the artists for all their manaakitanga (hospitality) and mahi (work), the visitors for who joined us on the Trail, and our Council team who worked tirelessly for months to bring this event together.
Don't forget to claim your rewards by 20 November to go in the draw to win a fabulous $500 art voucher and keep an eye out for our Art Trail survey next week. We can only make improvements if we know what you think.
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Your Council
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Living with more water
Record rainfall has been causing significantly elevated groundwater levels across our district.
The average annual rainfall at Paraparaumu Aerodrome is 1030mm, but 1432mm was recorded between August 2021 and August 2022, the third highest annual total on record in over 80 years.
When groundwater levels are high, stormwater can become trapped in low lying areas. Groundwater inundation is different from stormwater flooding in that it can persist over long periods of time, and can be much more difficult to mitigate.
We're seeing low-lying areas across the district experiencing standing water and drainage issues. It's impacting Council’s land, infrastructure, and work programmes, as well as private property.
Unfortunately, there are no easy fixes but levels will drop given time. If you experience standing water on your property, please be patient while it recedes. We have a number of actions underway to improve our stormwater network which will help the situation.
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Did you know food and garden waste contributes to climate change? That's because it produces methane as it decomposes in landfills.
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Methane is an especially bad greenhouse gas because it has more warming power than more common gases like carbon dioxide (CO2).
Our waste minimisation strategy encourages people to reduce waste by buying less, reusing products to keep them out of landfills, and composting food and garden waste. We do this through education and developing infrastructure to make it easier for people to reduce and reuse.
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Delivering for Kāpiti – our planning and regulatory activities
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Our planning and regulatory areas had a very busy 2021/22 financial year.
Some of their mahi (work) included the adoption of our Growth Strategy Te Tupu Pai, Open Space Strategy Toitū Kāpiti, and Housing and Sustainable Transport strategies.
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We received almost 20,000 submissions on those strategies and other items such as our Annual Plan 2022/23, Representation Review, Stormwater Management Framework, District Plan Change 2: Intensification, local alcohol policy, traffic bylaw, and Maclean Park refresh.
Our regulatory team issued more than 1,190 building consents and responded to more than 3,200 requests for service with a large number of these relating to wandering, noisy or lost dogs. They also renewed 223 Food Act registrations and alcohol licenses for 63 premises, as well as carrying out 205 trade waste and 63 health inspections.
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Council hosts Waste Forum
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Our Waste Minimisation team hosted the Wellington region’s Waste Forum last week.
It was an opportunity for commercial operators, council staff, elected representatives, mana whenua partners, regional and central government agencies, and other organisations active in the waste sector to network and share information.
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About 30 representatives from across the Wellington region’s territorial authorities (city, district, and regional councils) attended.
As hosts, our Waste Minimisation team organised presentations including:
This was followed by a field trip to Zero Waste Ōtaki’s timber recovery operation.
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Our people and communities
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Celebrating Milne Drive playground
The revamped playground at Milne Drive Reserve in Paraparaumu is almost complete so it's time to celebrate!
Join us from 3.15–5pm, Wednesday 16 November for a sausage sizzle, facepainting and to try out some of the new equipment.
The new-look playground is based on what you told us during our public consultation last year.
There has been a delay from our supplier for the adult exercise equipment, but that will be added to the reserve as soon as it's ready.
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Final composting workshop online tomorrow
If you missed our Spring series of in-person Love your Compost workshops don't worry, there's still an online session left.
The final of our free workshops is on Wednesday16 November, 6.30–7.30pm.
There are many different ways to compost and this workshop is designed to help you find the right one for your household.
Learn about traditional composting, worm farms and bokashi bins with plenty of opportunities to questions.
All you have to do is fill out the registration form and we'll send you the link to join the online workshop.
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Work updates
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Raumati South Memorial Hall gets a spruce up
You may have noticed we've started work to give the Raumati South Memorial Hall on Tennis Court Road a new lease of life.
As part of our proactive maintenance programme on our properties across the district, the Hall will receive a new roof and foundation repairs. A new retaining wall will be built to protect the rear of the Hall from the bank along Tennis Court Road Reserve.
Inside, a fresh lick of paint and new flooring will finish the project. As a heritage building, we're replacing the beautiful matai floorboards with like-for-like. We've experienced some delays sourcing this product but hope to complete our works by the end of February 2023.
We'll endeavour to have the Hall available for community use as much as practical but will need to temporarily close the building when we undertake internal works.
We have a great range of halls and meeting spaces available for use in the interim.
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First pavement laid in Paraparaumu Transport Hub upgrade
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Construction's nearly finished on one of the first sections of the Paraparaumu Transport Hub with new pavement laid in the south-west corner of Kāpiti Road and old State Highway 1.
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Following the project design, two areas will be planted during the next planting season. A new bus stop will be installed and buses replacing trains to Wellington will eventually use the bus stop in this area.
The upgraded transport hub will improve connections to the retail area and provide a larger, safer and more convenient bus interchange set within a fully accessible public plaza.
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Roof shout time for the new Mahara Gallery
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The Mahara Gallery upgrade has reached a big milestone with completion of the roof.
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The new roof is a mix of waterproof bituminous membrane complemented with areas of profiled steel.
Next steps include the completion of glazing, installing utilities such as electric wiring, heating and ventilation pipes, and fire systems. Wall linings will then be fitted, and the lift will be installed later this month.
The upgraded museum-grade Mahara Gallery will have double the number of exhibition galleries and almost triple the exhibition space of the old gallery.
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Dates to remember
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Meeting this week – Raumati Community Board
Tuesday 15 November
7pm
Kāpiti Coast United Football Clubroom, Weka Park, Raumati Beach
This week members will discuss:
- adoption of Standing Orders
- Community Board remuneration 2022-23
- draft calendar of Community Board Meetings 2023
- consideration of applications or funding.
See our Meetings and agendas page for the full agenda. Watch the coverage on our YouTube channel within three working days of the meeting.
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District Plan Change 2 further submissions
Submissions close 5pm, Thursday 24 November
We received more than 200 submissions on District Plan Change 2 – Intensification and have summarised the decisions people asked for. We've now opened an opportunity for further submissions.
If you need help, the Friend of the Submitter is available for guidance on the further submissions process.
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Everything (Kāpiti) is better with friends
Would you like to share the Everything Kāpiti newsletter with friends? Forward it to a friend and they'll be able to sign up too.
Or share the sign-up page directly. We look forward to welcoming them to the whānau.
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#ShareYourKapiti
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We want to see your Kāpiti snaps!
Do you have beautiful Kāpiti Coast photos? If so, follow us on Instagram and use the hashtag #shareyourkapiti for the chance to feature in Everything Kāpiti. If you don't use social media, you can upload your images to our website, at #ShareYourKapiti. Get sharing!
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