Council considers final plan issues

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 543, 5 July 1994, Page 1

Council considers final plan issues

Submissions to the Ruapehu District Council' s 1994/95 Draft Annual Plan were considered by Council when it met in Taumarunui on Wednesday 29 June. Approved, adopted or recieved Submissions which were approved, adopted or received were: □ Winning Waimarino/Mainstreeet. A request for a grant of $10,000 was made by project co-ordinator Sue Allomes on behalf of the Winning Waimarino/Mainstreet committee to ensure the continuity of the project and specifically "to facilitate a design overview and prepare a blueprint for development over the next 10 years or more and to continue to maintain the local facilitation process". This process includes: funding of a design consultancy for Ohakune and Raetihi townships; development of promotional activities; beautification initiatives; a business skills seminar to improve local employment prospects. A further sum of $ 1 0,000 was also allocated to both Winning Waimarino/Mainstreet and the

Taumarunui Mainstreet committee for administration purposes from the Community Affairs budget. □ Rating Policy. Winston Oliver presented a submission requesting Council to prepare a "discussion paper on the whole subject of rating and, over the next year with public and community input" Council should "put in place a more satisfactory and fairer system than we have at present". In his submission Mr Oliver claimed that the "volatile movement in land values was clearly causing dramatic variations in rates" and cited his own rate increase of 24% between 1990/91 and 1993/94. In speaking to his submission at the meeting he said that with the present system of rating he "had no idea where the money has come from or where it is going as far as the Waimarino is concerned," but did agree that the recently adopted differential rating system would alleviate the problem. RDC corporate services director Chris Ryan told the meeting that Council does not attempt to match sources of revenue directly with expendi-

ture. Councillor John Compton said he certainly agreed that Council should take on the views of ratepayers and the public in any consideration of future rating policy. (Received.) □ Kerbside Recycling. Two submissions were received requesting the withdrawal of the kerbside recycling scheme from the Draft Annual Plan which proposed a sum of $60, 1 00 be set aside for a kerbside recycling initiati ve in the townships of Ohura, Taumarunui, National Park, Ohakune and Raetihi. These two submissions came from the Recycling and Waste Reduction Working Party and from Councillor Graeme Cosford who proposed instead that "a vote of $30,000 be included in the 1994/95 Annual Plan to fund the cost of developing a (comprehensive) Waste Minimisation Strategy". Cr Weston Kirton (who is chairman of the Recycling and Waste Reduction Working Party) said that the initial enthusiasm for recycling had come from a scheme in Waiouru but this enthusi-

asm had "come to a dead end" particularly with regard to the difficulties associated with the disposal of plastic. The risk factor of kerbside recycling of plastic was cited in a supporting report which referred to the "on again, off again" schemes of some Auckland councils and the New Zealand Milk Corporation. But Cr Kirton said it was possible to make a start by targeting other items of domestic refuse such as vegetation, metal, paper and cardboard and so extend the life span of existing tips. Asked how vegetation would be dealt with he said that Council would probably be looking to (roving) private contractors who move around the country with mobile mulching machinery. (Approved.) □ Forestry using surplus Council land. Cr Weston Kirton presented a submission in which he suggested surplus Council land in the Ruapehu district be used for commercial tree planting and that a sum of money be allocated in the 1994/95 Annual Plan to "kick-start" this project. He said that such a scheme would not only provide employment in the short term but revenue in the long term "maybe 1 0 or 1 5 years down Turn to Page 6

Council considers final plan issues

FR0MPAGE1 the track". He estimated that a sum of $ 1 0,000- $ 1 5 ,000 would cover the setting up of a labour administration scheme as "seedlings don' t cost very much" and suggested a working party be established to identify the appropriate areas for development within the district. Cr Stuart Shaw questioned whether the figure of $ 1 0,000-$ 1 5 ,000 would be adequate to cover such things as fencing and cited an example of a similar project where the entire plantation had been eaten out by goats because of inadequate fencing. Mayor Garrick Workman agreed that Council should spend money on researching and developing not only surplus Council land but also Maori land with a view to providing both employment and revenue. (Received.) □ District Land T ransport/Waiouru. A submission was received from the Waiouru Community Board in relation to the maintenance and improvements proposed in the 1 994/95 Draft Annual Plan for the roading network lying within the Waimarino and Waiouru wards. The Waiouru Community Board under the chair-

manship of Cr Bob Vine had resolved at their meeting on 21 June that: all rates levied and collected for the purposes of maintaining and improving the roading network within the respective wards be allocated for spending only within the ward from which those rates were collected; Council review the installation of a coin-operated (toilet) facility or some similar user-pays machanism to control the use of the proposed public toilet on the basis that the user should make some contribution to the annual operating costs of such a facility; Council review the budget provided for the 1994/95 financial year in respect of Waiouru ' s parks and reserves as that budget, in the opinion of the Waiouru Community Board, appears to be set at too high a level. In speaking to the (above) submission, Cr Bob Vine said that the meeting in Waiouru on 21 June had, in addition to the committee, been attended by two members of the public "which was a 200 percent increase on the numbers attending previous meetings". In responding to the submission that the generation of funding in one ward should be used only in that

ward RDC corporate services director Chris Ryan said that this would cut right across the existing distribution of funds and would set a precedent for future application from different wards if approved. "However, Council does support the concept of a user-pays toilet facility in Waiouru," he said. The following resolutions were presented to Council for the 1994/95 Annual Plan: the existing rating policy for the funding of the maintenance and capital improvements of the two roading networks not be changed for the 1994/95 year but the issue be reviewed by the Funding Review Working Party for the 1995/96 year; the possibility of a user-pays mechanism to control the use of the proposed upgraded Waiouru public toilet (on SH1) be initiated; the detail of the budget for the Waiouru Parks and REserves budget component be made available to the Waiouru Community Board for information. (Received.) □ Ohakune's Christie Park Playground. Two submissions were received in support of a new playground to be established in Ohakune's Christie Park. One submissions was from the Ohakune Sub-

branch of the Royal New Zealand Plunket Society for $4000 to purchase equipment and the other submission, for $8000, was made by the Waimarino Community Board for this project which was estimated to cost a total of $12,000. Initially the Waimarino Community Board had requested an allocation of $4000 but when this proved inadequate to meet the total estimated cost an additional $4000 was applied for. (Approved.) □ Rochfort Park LightingUpgrade. A submission from the Waimarino Community Board applying for $7000 to be allocated from the Land Subdivision Reserve Contribution Special Fund to cover the cost of upgrading the lighting on Rochfort Park was put before Council last week. It was noted that the impact of this request, if approved, will be nil as it is proposed that this work will be funded from Reserves Contributions. (Approved.) Unsuccessfful The following submissions were declined, rejected or deferred: □ Showpiece fountain, picnic tables and childrens playground equipment Ohakune. A

submission by Bea Barnes of Ohakune proposing the above facilities be sited at the junction of Mangawhero Terrace, Goldfinch Street and Shannon Street on a triangle of land adjacent to the swing bridge over the Mangawhero Stream was "not favoured" for inclusion in the 1994/95 Annual Plan. Apart from the water hazard presented by the proximity of the proposed site to the river and the traffic hazard presented by being next to the main access between the town and the Turoa Skifields Council also noted that the area concerned is designated as Road Reserve and not Recreational Reserve. (Declined.) □ Upgrading of playground equipment at National Park School. A submission requesting a sum of $2500 for the upgrading of existing equipment and to add extensions was received from the Board of Trustees at National Park School. The proposed work to re-model the existing playground was estimated to cost a total of $5000 of which the Council was being asked to contribute half. It was pointed out, in the submission, that there was no other playground in

National Park. However, because the submission was made too late to be included in the 1 994/95 Draft Annual Plan through the National Park Community Board and because it does not fall into the 'Community Affairs' category, Council resolved

that the National Park School Board of Trustees be advised that funds are not available in the (current) Annual Plan but that the "matter be further considered by the National Park Community Board as part of the 1 995/96 Annual Planning process."