MINUTES
Fairlie Community Board Meeting
6 May 2021
Fairlie Community Board Meeting Minutes 6 May 2021
MINUTES
OF Mackenzie District
Council
Fairlie
Community Board Meeting
HELD AT THE Council
Chambers, Fairlie
ON Thursday, 6
May 2021 AT 4.30pm
PRESENT: Les Blacklock (Chairman), Damon Smith, Leaine Rush, Angela Habraken, Cr Murray Cox
IN ATTENDANCE: Cr Anne Munro, Tim Harty (General Manager Operations), Brian Milne (Community Facilities Officer), Arlene Goss (Governance Advisor), Chris Rutherford (Xyst arborist), Mayor Graham Smith (from4.50pm)
The chairman opened the meeting and welcomed everyone.
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Committee Resolution FCB/2021/142 Moved: Member Leaine Rush Seconded: Member Angela Habraken That the apology received from Chief Executive Suzette van Aswegen be received. Carried |
There was no public forum.
There were no declarations of interest.
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Chris Rutherford from Xyst introduced himself. He is a trained arborist and has prepared the report on the Peace Trees. He outlined the main points of the report and recommended carrying out deferred maintenance on the trees. He also talked about the renewal of the trees, which would be required in the future. He recommended planting elms and oaks as these were the trees that were doing best. The chairman agreed that this work was required and agreed with the recommendations from Mr Rutherford to plant oaks and elms. Some of the trees were on private land and it was agreed that these would be included in the work. Discussion took place on the planting that was needed. Local acorns were growing near the trees. Schools or a nursery could raise these. Mr Rutherford suggested a staged planting approach, rather than doing it all at the same time. Mr Harty said this would be in the Long Term Plan as a key item of work. He suggested running a Peace Tree drop in session for the community. Mr Rutherford suggested a flyer. Angela Habraken suggested an article in the Fairlie Accessible. People needed to know how much ongoing cost was involved in caring for the trees. NZTA has an environmental enhancement fund so it might be worth applying for this. Mayor Graham Smith joined the meeting at 4.50pm and gave his apologies. The community board passed a resolution asking staff to come back with a proposal for community engagement. The subjects to be covered include: raising awareness of the report, opportunities for replanting, broad concepts of what we can talk to the community about. |
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Committee Resolution FCB/2021/143 Moved: Mr Les Blacklock Seconded: Member Angela Habraken That the Fairlie Community Board instructs staff to come back to the next meeting with a proposal for community engagement on the Peace Trees. Carried |
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5.2 Minutes of Fairlie Community Board Meeting - 18 March 2021 |
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Committee Resolution FCB/2021/144 Moved: Member Leaine Rush Seconded: Mr Damon Smith That the Minutes of the Fairlie Community Board Meeting held on Thursday 18 March 2021 be received and confirmed as an accurate record of the meeting. Carried |
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The chairman thanked staff for providing a simpler report. He noted the steps on Argyle Street had been completed. The Mayor suggested a resolution to carry forward the outstanding funds at the end of the financial year. Member Leaine Rush asked if the skatepark needed more money to complete the landscaping. Mr Harty said this was not required. The gravel in the middle of the park needed to be replaced with larger rocks and this would happen within the existing budget. |
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Committee Resolution FCB/2021/145 Moved: Mr Les Blacklock Seconded: Mr Damon Smith That the Fairlie Community Board asks Council to carry forward the balance of community board funds into the new financial year. Carried |
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This report was noted. |
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The purpose of this report was for the Fairlie Community Board to make decisions on a request from Audrey Mitchell to remove a Douglas Fir from the Fairlie Domain. It was noted that the estimate of $2,500 was a verbal estimate and the recommendation was to get a firm quote. Brian Milne said the policy was clear - that Council would not remove trees for shade reasons. However he was not against removing it and replacing it with better trees to be a good neighbour. If it was to be removed the cost should be shared. Council’s tree maintenance budget was in demand due to work carried out on storm-damaged trees. In 2011 other trees were removed at Mrs Mitchell’s request and this had set a precedent. Member Leaine Rush said this should be a case-by-case scenario and she supported removing the tree. Cr Cox said if the tree was removed Council would gain useable ground. This was better in the long term. The chairman said he has had a look and there are other trees behind it. If this one goes would the community board get another letter asking for the trees behind to be removed? Further discussion took place on the pros and cons on removing this tree. The community board agreed it was happy to remove the tree if Mrs Mitchell agreed to meet the cost. The community board suggested offering the tree to an outside contractor to take away. The chairman suggested that the board provide money towards the cost because the tree would need to be removed at the end of its life, and doing it now would save that later cost. The chairman offered to speak to Mrs Mitchell once the quote is obtained. |
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Committee Resolution FCB/2021/146 Moved: Member Angela Habraken Seconded: Mr Les Blacklock 1. That the report be received. 2. That staff obtain a quote for the removal of the Fairlie Domain Douglas Fir from an MDC-approved contractor. 3. That the applicant be approached to discuss the costs for removal of the Douglas Fir, and if agreeable to meet the costs, that the tree and stump be removed. 4. That a suitable replacement deciduous tree be planted in the winter following the removal of the Douglas Fir, at a location within the Fairlie Domain. Carried |
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The purpose of this report was for the Community Board to consider the proposed 2021/22 Fees and Charges for the community facilities within the community board area. There are minimal increases across all areas with the exception of the swimming pool. The provision of a lifeguard for school swimming was included in the new charges. There would be changes to regular user discounts for the community centre, to standardise this across the district. This would now be a 20% discount for more than 10 bookings. Member Angela Habraken asked if it was worth looking at a pensioner rate for the swimming pool. Or a rate for people with a community services card? Brian Milne said he would include a rate for these people, that is a 20% reduction for a community services card for a season pass. |
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Committee Resolution FCB/2021/147 Moved: Mr Damon Smith Seconded: Member Angela Habraken 1. That the report be received. 2. That the Community Board recommend that Council adopt the 2021/22 fees and charges for the community facilities within the Community Board area as proposed with the changes noted in the minutes above. Carried |
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The chairman raised the issue of a willow tree near the flying fox with broken limbs. He asked if it could be looked at. Mr Milne said the tree was damaged in the Easter winds and he was of the view that the tree could be saved. He said there could be some more work required and he would keep an eye on it. Regarding skate park landscaping, the gravel in the middle of the park would be changed. The chairman noted that the community centre was being better used but there was nobody overseeing things like cleaning, chair stacking and other matters. The wooden forms were past their use-by date. Nobody checks on the quality of the cleaning. He suggested appointing a person who knows what is needed there to check it on a regular basis. Mr Harty said there was a contract in place for cleaning. The Mayor suggested taking a look at the contract. Mr Milne outlined the situation with community centres across the district and said he was aware this was a problem and not working well at the moment. Discussion took place on the need to put the correct process in place regarding all three of the community centres, that would allow locals to manage them. Cr Cox outlined current councillor activities. He said he had a good discussion with South Canterbury Cycle Trails who would like to extend their trail from Pleasant Point to Tekapo. Mackenzie will get some money from the Tourism Infrastructure Fund and Council has submitted an application. Hopefully this money would pay for replacement public toilets in Fairlie and a campervan dump station. Councillors were also working on the Long Term Plan. There was a lot of activity happening in local government generally and more reforms were expected before the next election. |
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Parking outside skate park – Now that the skate park is finished this can be re-looked at. Barriers around playground – Contract has been let. Need to chase up. Fairlie public toilets – Tim Harty noted that the public toilets in the district were just as dirty, littered and badly treated now as before Covid, when people blamed tourists for the mess. He said it was dirty kiwis to blame. It costs council $25,000 a year to clean and maintain the Fairlie toilets. He was increasing the cleaning frequency due to the problems. Angela Habraken asked if there was a plan to put more seats near the skatepark for parents, including seating with shade. There was a plan for seating. If Council received the Tourism Infrastructure Funding seats could be included in the toilet upgrade. Dog Park – will be included in the Parks Strategy. Jack and Enid Hutt Community Lounge – Work on the kitchenette is going ahead. Fairlie cemetery memorial wall – The chairman said he would talk to Francie and request drawings. Trucks using Grey Street – Mr Harty has sent a letter to the operators and there had not been any reports of trucks using those streets since then. Swimming Pool – Funding for equipment replacement is included in year 1 of the Long Term Plan. Area by Four Square needing bike racks – The community board needed to decide where to put a bike stand. There was a place that people used as a car park, which was not a car park, and the bike rack could go there. Brian Milne offered to follow this up. |
The Meeting closed at 6.13pm.
The minutes of this meeting were confirmed at the Fairlie Community Board Meeting held on .
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CHAIRPERSON