Mount Protection Society spokesman Fred Greenville is picking a TCAL presentation at the Tauranga City Council's projects and monitoring committee meeting today is about ‘face-saving'.
Mount Hot Pools.
Tauranga City Aquatics Ltd chairman of directors Warren Banks and CEO Tania Delahunty are scheduled to speak for 2.5 hours on the pools' redevelopment.
The redevelopment plans have been declared non-complying by an independent Hearings Commissioner Greg Hill.
TCAL is appealing the decision. Environment Court mediation on July 19 failed and the issue is about to head for the Environment Court.
TCAL is being opposed by the Mount Protection Society, formed by residents who oppose the redevelopment plans on a number of issues.
To take to the Environment Court, TCAL, a council controlled organisation, needs council's agreement.
'They need a face-saving exercise,” says MPS spokesman Fred Greenville.
'They have run themselves up a gum tree and there's no safe way out.
'Commonsense should have told them a long time ago you can't shoe-horn a Hanmer Springs or Polynesian Pools into a no-site, no-parking area.
'I can't understand where their commonsense has gone, but I guess council is also looking for a face-saver as well because they have been believing the tooth fairy for three or four years now.
'To my knowledge none of them have personally done any research on the probability that you could create a Polynesian Pool style tourist attraction in Adams Ave, none of them.
'I'm the only one that's had the decency to go down to the Polynesian Pools and talk to the owner, who says the council are on a no-win horse.”
The development will take 24 camping sites from the surrounding holiday camps, which is public reserve land.
Greg Hill found the redevelopment is non-complying under the Resource Management Act.
It would have more than minor adverse effects, with some significant adverse effects. These include the adverse effects on the landscape, visual amenity, the loss of open space and transportation especially car parking. These effects cannot be appropriately avoided, remedied, or mitigated and are not outweighed by the positive effects of the proposal.
The application is inconsistent with the operative and proposed district plan provisions relating to landscape protection, public open space amenity values, and transportation. It is of a scale not supported by the conservation zone which has as its main purpose to protect and conserve the values of the site, in this case the outstanding landscape feature of Mauao. It is also inconsistent with those related provisions in the NZ Coastal Policy Statement and the Regional Policy Statement.
9 comments
TCC Being stubborn and refusing to listen
Posted on 08-08-2011 12:24 | By Steve Morris
Don't you just hate it when your council spends YOUR money (through a CCO owned by you) defending a project that YOU oppose!!
Can Someone Quickly Stop This Waste of Money.
Posted on 08-08-2011 13:12 | By tabatha
The idea in principle is great, but that is where it begins and ends. The position is not suitable and never will be suitable for such an expansion. To expand you have to have readily available space. There is no space around the area unless Mauao is used. We hear that the local Maori groups, and pakeha, are not in favour of a compass on top of the Mount so reading into that they are not in favour of disturbance of the ground at the foot of the Mount for a wellness area and enlarged pools and parking for the users of such a venture. If you want people to use a venture you have to provide easy access. Look at the CBD and the problems with charged parking and lack of people using the area. Please can the big plans of TCAL be once and for all stopped and never revisited until land away from the side of Mauao has been obtained and set up for parking etc. Please leave our beloved Mauao for pure recreation and admiration not mutilation.
place has gone mad
Posted on 08-08-2011 15:14 | By traceybjammet
the pools are not suitable, financially or position wise to be developed.Tourists are just not into one pool which is why they go to Rotorua, locals will use the pools as they are although a slight tidy and maintenance would't hurt. The Mount is about the beach and Tauranga is about the harbour spend money in those areas if you must spend money
Well Said
Posted on 08-08-2011 15:31 | By Jitter
Well said Steve Morris, you have got it in one. However unfortunately TCC and TCAL know far better than us how our money should be spent. Why we even need a separate company to run the pools I will never know. It is not as though we have dozens of pools in Tauranga. Another query is, why 150 staff to run four or five pools ?It looks to me like jobs for the boys and girls. Absolutey unneccessary.
Baywave
Posted on 08-08-2011 16:47 | By The author of this comment has been removed.
Baywave had room and when built should have been bigger and could have had 'other' facilities. Just look at any other public pools around the country and adapt facilities for us to use. What does the money for feasibility studies go toward, certainly not homework on what is suitable????? Lots of talk goes into these projects BUT not much thinking???
Councillors transparent!
Posted on 08-08-2011 17:23 | By claypole
If council give TCAL permission to proceed with their appeal in the Environment Court (and those that do need to be named), then joe public who voted them and the Mayor in, should reconsider next time the opportunity arises. The majority of rate payers do not want this wanton waste of public money- councillors, reflect this view and put the CEO out of a job as her performance is found wanting.
Now Hang on a minute...
Posted on 08-08-2011 17:55 | By Tony
In another artical in this fine publication I read that no less then 5 (five) business plans are yet to be developed...What the hell are these two goning to talk about for 2 and a half hours if they dont even have a directon This is just the spin of spin ...We dont know what we are going to do yet But we reakon we can fool the punters for 2.5 hours . lolololol
When will Mount Protection Society act
Posted on 08-08-2011 20:09 | By Inconvenient Truth
to sort out those multi storied houses at the Mount jammed onto sections with concrete yards and hardly any garden? I want to see Fred and the team tackle that next.
Pity it wasn't an election year for council
Posted on 09-08-2011 09:49 | By Openknee8ted
Watching the finger pointing would have been fun
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