It has been another very busy year for the committee of the Grey Lynn Residents’ Association, which has had several key issues to address during the year.
Planning issues
Several issues relating to developments occurred during the year. The restrictive rulings around who is deemed be an affected party meant that we could not submit on them but we were of assistance to immediate residents, helping them with their submissions so that they could be cast in effective language. In the case of 560 Richmond Road and the removal of a villa to create car parking we supported the immediate neighbour’s objection with planning advice and presence at the hearing. She was ultimately successful at the hearings: the commissioner ruled in November that the removal could not proceed.
Several residents on the western side of Great North Road were alarmed by the Housing NZ plans for a new social housing development that would rise to six storeys at the back of the site of the current pensioner flats on Surrey Crescent and cause significant shading issues. This building was consented under the SHA legislation and so the issues around it are complex. At this stage the decision of the commissioner is unknown.
During the year we advised several residents who contacted us via the website seeking advice about their rights when major non notified developments were happening in adjacent properties.
We also lent our approval to the concept behind the CoHaus development planned for the corner of Surrey and Browning.
Many thanks to Graeme Burgess and Tania Mace for their expert work on this during the year. Thanks also go to local resident and former Auckland City Councillor Penny Sefuiva for her expert advice.
Great North Road concept
Work has continued on this ambitious project, with the interviews transcribed and analysed and a report detailing prevailing viewpoints prepared and presented to Council.
Concept drawings of how the road could look (trees, verandahs, how to avoid shading on the southern side etc) are the next stage and should be completed in the first quarter of 2019. Many thanks to David Batten and Brandon Wilcox for their work on this.
Grey Lynn Park
The chair has had meeting with Local Board member Adriana Avendano Christie and council officers about the state of the Rose Road Gully which is now an ecological tragedy, being almost totally enveloped by morning glory. The lack of council action here is inexplicable.
There has been no action to improve the playground at the Cockburn Street end of the park, nor to remediate the volleyball courts adjacent. Council maintenance of the park is at a minimal level and there are many areas of concern.
The stand of ten elms at the entrance from Schofield Street was felled during the year due to tree disease and the planting of natives in their stead was welcome but has not been entirely successful.
Trees
The committee became involved with aftermath of a poisoning of two mature plane trees in Selbourne Street and has maintained contact with the Council aborist about the matter. The trees are still partly alive and we are unsure about whether the planned removal will now proceed.
Cycle ways – Waitemata Safer Routes
The ongoing turmoil surrounding the installation of a cycleway, new pedestrian crossings and bus stop locations, planter beds and footpaths at the West Lynn shops (plus the associated cycleway route along Surrey Crescent and down Garnet Road in one direction and further on along Richmond Road on the other) has been a major focus of activity for the committee and indeed the community at large this year. Dan Salmon has ably represented us at large community consultation meetings with AT which at times have been acrimonious. The political temperatures have been high but key groups have emerged who wish to work constructively and for the good of all. We are about to make a submission on the revised plan which AT has put out for community consultation.
Residents’ Parking Scheme
We have worked closely with AT on the roll out of this scheme, which is much needed in many streets. When it was notified, a surge of resident complaints about the compromise parking plan for some streets (known colloquially as a ‘half and half’ approach) came to us via our website, with many residents giving their views in detail. As a result AT very quickly decided not to implement that scheme on those streets but rather to monitor the new commuter parking patterns in each of them as the full scheme comes on stream elsewhere. AT will continue to work with the GLRA on this. Many thanks to David and Brandon for their liaison with AT officers during the year.
Website and Facebook
The website has been well used and maintained by Brandon Wilcox with a number of blog posts on key issues during the year. David Batten has maintained our Facebook page. Thanks to them both.
Finances
The Association does not charge a membership fee and its only income is from the sponsorship of the website, which covers its hosting and support costs. We have managed to end the year in a fiscally neutral state. Many thanks to the Treasurer and secretary Jamie Hosking for managing our finances during the year.
Committee structure
During the year it became apparent to the committee that current structure of elected and appointed members is too restrictive and means that the committee, being quite small, is constrained in its activity and range. Therefore it has been decided that the allowable number of appointed members be expanded. A vote on this amendment to our constitution will be taken at the AGM.
Thanks
Thanks are due to the GLRA committee members, who have worked so hard this year for the neighbourhood despite their own busy working and family lives.
Nicola Legat and Dan Salmon – Co chairs
