News

What a great turnout for the first ever open day at Purewa Cemetery! Thanks to all who attended and especially Clifton Thomson and his team from Purewa who organised such a wonderfully informative day.

The day began at 10am and there were guided tours of the cemetery grounds at 11am and 12.30pm.

Throughout the day the Purewa team was available to answer questions about funerals and interment, and there were displays of caskets and hearses.

A large crowd gathered for the chapel and crematorium tour at 2pm. We heard about the history of the cemetery and had a fascinating introduction to the crematorium.

Some interesting things we learned from the day:

• The first burial at Purewa was in 1885
• A lot of the older graves are unmarked – especially if the family could not afford to pay. There is currently a project to identify as many people buried here as possible
• The crematorium was added in 1957
• The new remembrance lounge will be completed this year and allow two ceremonies and receptions to be held at once. See more at New remembrance lounge for Purewa Cemetery (30 November 2015)
• To date, there have been 100,000 cremations and 50,000 burials at Purewa
• Currently there are about 80% cremations vs 20% burials – perhaps due to expense as it is around $7,000 to bury a loved one vs $600 to cremate
• Families are welcome in the cremation room to watch a casket go into the cremator
• There are two cremators at Purewa and a very sophisticated computer to control them
• There is a rigorous process behind cremations: two doctors with 5+ years experience must authorise a body to be cremated, and staff must ensure paperwork is completed at all stages of the process
• The cremation process is environmentally-friendly – and it must be since there are houses nearby. After initial cremation at 750C, a second chamber at 850C burns off smoke. All that is released into the atmosphere is vapour
• Implants such as hip and knee joints can be cremated and family can request them back (we heard of a door knocker being fashioned with an old implant!)
• Pacemakers cannot go into a cremator as they can cause it to blow up!
• Money from metal from unclaimed implants are donated to charity as is NZ policy.

Photos

Hip, knee and spinal implants as they look after cremation. Cremator (with door shut) is to the left.

Wooden casket with Rangitoto theme

Taking a tour of the beautiful grounds of Purewa Cemetery

Volunteers at the MBSJRA table: Carmel Claridge and Dorthe Siggard

Kids scavenger hunt: picture by 5 year old Elsa Cooper

5 year old Elsa Cooper after completing the kids scavenger hunt

Outside the main chapel at Purewa Cemetery

A light moment when discussing cremation – it’s not all doom and gloom down here!

Yes, this is really what a cremator looks like.

One of the vintage hearses on display

Auckland Council contractors will be doing kerb and channel renewal works on Remuera Rd, starting Wednesday 16 March – end of May 2016.

Read the Remuera Road Works Notification LetterRemuera Road Works Notification Letter (PDF) for full details.

We have learned that consent for a service station-style unmanned carwash structure has been granted for 277 St Johns Rd, near the garden centre.

What has been approved?

The carwash will operate 24-hours, be 3.22m high and 54.6m2. It will require a Council-owned Ash tree to be removed. View a picture of the structure below:

Where exactly is it going?

It will be constructed on Council-owned land, inbetween 277 St Johns Rd and the road itself. View a diagram below:

Why haven’t I heard about it before now?

Auckland Council granted non-notified consent of the development, despite recommendations from Orakei Local Board for full notification. The consent document includes the following statement from Orakei Local Board Planning Spokesperson Troy Churton:

“This remains a non-complying activity. A 24 hour proposal is incongruent with planning policies for the site and surrounding sites which include considerable green field and recreational pathway developments.

Shortly before Christmas, the Council submitted an amendment to their Unitary Plan submission. The amendment results in thousands of local properties being potentially upzoned. Most people affected had no opportunity to make a submission on these changes. Read our February newsletter article which explains it more in-depth.

On February 9, Orakei Ward residents associations and other interested groups hosted a meeting to protest the amendment. As a result of mounting community pressure, on February 23 Auckland City Councillors voted to withdraw the amendment.

Last week, Housing New Zealand (HNZ) appeared before the Independent Hearing Panel (IHP) on their Unitary Plan submission. The HNZ proposal largely supports the density levels of the recently withdrawn Council amendment. Were this level of density to be supported by the IHP, this would leave thousands of people without the right to submit on changes to the zone of their homes. We will keep you updated on any new developments.

Read More

• Auckland Council rejects density changes (nzherald.co.nz, 24 February 2016).
• Housing New Zealand unveils its Auckland Plan (radionz.co.nz, 11 March 2016). Four minute audio.
• Housing NZ’s highest density plan for Auckland (radionz.co.nz, 11 March 2016).

The land forming the Pourewa Creek Recreation Reserve was returned to Ngati Whatua Orakei in 2012, and there is now a Draft Management Plan for its use.

Read the full Pourewa Creek Recreation Reserve Draft Reserve Management Plan (PDF).

You are welcome to submit your feedback to RESLocalBoard.Orakei@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz until 5pm Friday March 18.

The reserve is shown in red below (click to view a larger image).

Part of the Waiatarua and Koraha Reserves have been approved for parking use during the upcoming NZPGA Championships at Remuera Golf Course.

See:

• Parking site layout plans
• Letter drop to local residents and businesses.

Organisers of the tournament have been in close contact with us throughout preparations for the event, and we received the below communication from Aaron Carter, Tournament Director:

“The event will be held at the Remuera Golf Club, and as part of the event offering for spectators we sought use of part of the Waiatarua and Koraha Reserves, which have been granted. We are very thankful for this, and will ensure the Reserve/s are treated with respect and care at all times.

We have a well-planned parking strategy, which will see club members and signage at key points, along with cones that will delineate parking access/egress areas, we hope to minimise any inconvenience to you during the event – there are no resident restrictions in place.

The Koraha Reserve has been confirmed as a back-up parking location if required.

Please find attached the parking site layout plans, and the local residents/business mailer, which has been delivered to residents and local businesses adjacent to the course.”

If you have any questions or concerns please get in touch: email

We have received a request from the Remuera Golf Club, who are hosting the New Zealand PGA Championships on 2-6 March. They would like to be able to prepare the course from 6am, instead of 7am as current noise restrictions allow.

If you live near the golf club and have any specific concerns, please contact Spencer Cooper, Course Superintendent, Remuera Golf Club on 021 229 8550 or .

Full text of the email from Remuera Golf Club is below:

Dear Neighbours,

We hope you are well and enjoying the great summer we are having?

As you have probably heard and seen recently, Remuera Golf Club will once again be hosting the New Zealand PGA Championships from 2-6 March 2016 (with the Pro-Am event on 2 March) which is part of and organized by the Australasian Tour. This a very exciting event not only for the club but for Auckland and we are looking forward to building on last year’s successful tournament. (www.holdenpgachampionship.co.nz)

In fact, the tournament has been so well received and due to this huge interest we will have to make use of every minute of daylight during the tournament to prepare the course and still accommodate all the players.

With this in mind we find ourselves in the position of being restricted by Auckland Council Noise Pollution Laws to only start preparation of the course at 7am. We are committed to maintaining and building a strong relationship with all our neighbours but for 2, 3 and 4 March 2015 we would like to ask for some leeway and start our operations to prepare the course at 6 am.

We hope this request is agreeable with all our neighbours and together with you we look forward to putting on an event that our whole community can be proud of. Please notify me directly should you have any concerns? Please could you also share this with any of our neighbours not on this mailing list who might have concerns especially along Norman Lessor Drive, Allen Johnstone Place, Hoani Glade, Coldham Crescent, Charles Fox Place and Panapa Drive.

Kind Regards

Spencer Cooper

Course Superintendent

Remuera Golf Club

The Unitary Plan exists to provide a framework for how Auckland will grow, and accommodate more people in increased density housing in Auckland.

However late last year Auckland Council blindsided Orakei Ward residents with significant changes to the density outlined in the original Unitary Plan.

1. Zoning redefinitions: The four residential zones in our ward will all allow for more density. For example, Mixed Housing Suburban Zone (most of Meadowbank & St Johns), will now allow one dwelling per 200m2 (instead of one dwelling per 400m2). See a summary of zoning redefinitions (thanks to Margaret King).
2. ‘Upzoning’: Just before Christmas 2015, Auckland Council announced that around 20,000 properties (mainly in Glendowie, St Heliers and Orakei, with about 100 properties affected in Meadowbank and St Johns) would be re-zoned under the Unitary Plan to allow for much higher density developments. Some properties even ‘jumped up’ two zones.

For a definition of the four main proposed new zones affecting Orakei Ward, see the Auckland Council Fact sheet definitions:

• Single House zone
• Mixed Housing Suburban zone
• Mixed Housing Urban zone
• Terraced Housing and Apartment Buildings (THAB) zone

In practice this means a much higher density in Orakei Ward than we were originally consulted upon, and the Council has not addressed the flow-on effects that this increased density will have on infrastructure, traffic and resources.

What’s more, unless the ‘upzoned’ households made a submission on the Unitary Plan (submissions closed in February 2014), they cannot make submissions on the changes.

We believe this process has been completely undemocratic so here’s what we’re doing about it.

• Together with other Residents Associations and community groups in Orakei, and supported by Orakei Local Board, we held a public meeting on February 9 to inform residents of the changes and asked local Councillors to support our objections to the process
• We’re staying in close contact with Orakei Local Board to keep pressure on Auckland Council.

Zoning map

To see an outline of the changes in Orakei Ward, view the Zoning Map. Note: ‘Out of scope’ means Auckland Council will not notify property owners of the changes, and owners have no right of reply to the changes.

Read more

• Auckland special meeting on ‘up zoning’ could create chaos (Stuff.co.nz, 24 February 2016). Good explanation of the issues and an excellent interactive ‘before and after’ map.
• Revolt in the suburbs (NZ Herald, 20 February 2016). A balanced and simply-explained article about the issues.
• Auckland residents concerned over proposed zoning changes in Unitary Plan (East and Bays Courier, February 11 2016)
• Council publishes preliminary zoning maps (Our Auckland, 17 December 2015). Note zoning maps have been removed, but the accompanying article is informative.