Pāpāmoa planting protest: Wairākei work halts while Tauranga City Council reconsults

Pāpāmoa planting protest: Wairākei
work halts while Tauranga City Council
reconsults
27 May, 2020 5:00am
Grant Pegler took the concerns of Palm Beach area residents about
planting along Te Ara O Wairakei to Tauranga City Council on Tuesday.

By: Samantha Motion
Multimedia journalist
samantha.motion@nzme.co.nz

Riparian planting on a popular Pāpāmoa waterway has been halted until
next year - or maybe forever - after complaints from residents who want
the grass restored.
But an iwi leader says complaining residents should stop being "sooks"
and another says the planting is for everyone's benefit.
The Tauranga City Council has been working on a plan to landscape Te Ara
o Wairākei, a series of stormwater catchment ponds that run nearly the
length of Pāpāmoa flanked by paths, since 2016.
The $5.77 million first stage of planting along the margins and surrounds
of 10km of waterway is nearly done, but the council halted partially
complete work in the Palm Beach West area last year after residents
kicked up a stink.

Grant Pegler with some of the council planting that prompted complaints
from residents of Palm Beach West. Photo / George Novak
Palm Beach resident spokesman Grant Pegler took their case to the
council again last Tuesday.
"I have got hundreds of people who are quite hostile against this," he told
the meeting.
He criticised the lack of consultation with residents, cast doubt on the
benefits of planting and said Palm Beach - with its larger pools and big,
grassed reserve areas - needed a different treatment to the rest of the
waterway.
He said residents wanted planting removed and grass reinstated to the
water's edge, as it was before.
"We don't want any change to this beautiful park."

Palm Beach West residents want planted margins returned to grass. Photo
/ George Novak
Steve Morris, a ward councillor for Pāpāmoa, said the landscaping had
been good for the suburb overall, but failed residents by imposing a "one
size fits all" solution on the 500m section between Palm Beach Boulevard
and Santa Monica Dr.
Although the council had done consultation, he said, it was clear
"something's gone wrong" when large numbers of residents were saying
they were not consulted. The issues were aggravated by poor
maintenance of the planting, he said.
In the meeting, council staff admitted to some flaws in community
engagement efforts.
They also blamed maintenance issues, resulting in numerous dead plants,
on a subcontractor which had been replaced after a series of failures.

Steve Morris is a ward councillor for Pāpāmoa and Mount Maunganui.
Photo / File
Drainage services team leader Wally Potts said the whole community was
"let down by the performance of that contractor".
He defended the council's early consultation, describing a variety of ways
people were invited to have a say.
After the plan was signed off, however, a year was spent propagating the
plants, Potts said.
"The mistake on our part was that we did not continue the engagement
process in that year," Potts said.
READ MORE:
• Tauranga City Council owns up to poor consultation on Wairakei
Landscape Plan
• Tauranga City Council halts Wairakei Landscape Plan after protest
• Premium - Pāpāmoa residents at odds with council over waterways
landscape plan
• Premium - Pāpāmoa pūkeko create headache for Tauranga City Council
over wetland planting plan

When planting started, some people were "taken by surprise" having not
appreciated the scale of the work, he said.
Potts said the wetland-style planting on water margins would reduce the
"whole-of-life maintenance cost" for the man-made ponds, helping to
suppress weeds, prevent erosion, stabilise banks and improve water
quality.
Council staff said planting was required in the resource consent, and while
small changes were allowed, anything else would trigger a variation
process that could cost an estimated $250,000.
A council majority voted to consult with the community and tangata
whenua about "reinstating and enhancing" the Palm Beach West section
of the stream, as well as to develop a plan for planting that would meet
both community expectations and comply with the resource consent.
The results were expected to come back to the council by mid-2021. In the
meantime, council staff could do no planting in the area.
Pegler told the Bay of Plenty Times after the meeting that he did not
believe residents would accept a compromise on planting - they just
wanted the grass back.
Whatever the solution, it should be led by the community, not the council
or people who did not live there.
The council consulted with Ngā Pōtiki, Ngāi Te Rangi and Waitaha in the
development of the landscaping plan.

An example of planting along a different area of Te Ara O Wairākei.
Supplied / Boffa Miskel
Ngā Pōtiki chairman Colin Reeder declined to comment on the council
decision but said the hapū fully supported the indigenous riparian
planting.
He said the Wairākei Stream once flowed along the path now taken by the
man-made stormwater ponds - a modified remnant of the original coastal
wetlands that he said existed even when the area was farmed, before
being developed for housing.
"We view the Te Ara ō Wairākei project as an opportunity to preserve and
enhance what is left of the natural environment along this significantly
important green corridor, and maintain its mana, not just for Ngā Pōtiki
people and native wildlife, but for all residents of Pāpāmoa and the wider
Tauranga community to enjoy."
Reeder said the benefits of riparian planting along the waterways was
backed by consulting ecologists.
Read more: Local Focus: Should Pāpāmoa stormwater drain be a wetland
or parkland?

Plants had been chosen to provide habitat for fish and eels, keep the
public and pets away from unsafe water, stabilise banks and to stop grass
clippings from entering the water and contributing to algal blooms like the
one seen this year, he said.
"The planting will improve water quality and biodiversity, and that is
something everyone will benefit from."
Ngāi Te Rangi chief executive Paora Stanley said the iwi was comfortable
with the "democratic and fulsome" consultation process the council
carried out.
He said, in his opinion, it was undemocratic for a "handful" of complainers
to be trying to undo or go outside that process.
He understood residents felt a connection to the area, but said Māori did
too. "Ours goes back to 1750."
In his view, residents should "stop being a sook."
Waitaha was also approached for comment.