Ponsonby Park – October Update

Planning work for the realisation of Ponsonby Park is now well underway.

Our CLD group representative is Mr Chris Bailey and he is very pleased with the structure and progress of the group’s preparatory work.

Here’s a brief summary from the meeting:

1. Council is already working with LandLAB to further develop their Park Plus+ concept design through to detailed designs – which can then be costed.

2. The general approach to the project is to ‘determine what the existing concept costs and then decide if tweaks are required to fit it into the existing budget’.

3. The Waitemata Local Board Workshop that was scheduled for September, has now been rescheduled for November due to the local elections. (Local elections decide who is on your local council, regional council, district health board, and other important organisations in your area. The people who are elected get to make decisions that affect your daily life and the future of your town or city – so don’t forget to vote!)

4. The Draft Business Case for Ponsonby Park will then be presented to the Waitemata Local Board for consideration in December 2019.

5. Rezoning is required for the site with the front part remaining as designated in the Unitary Plan as ‘Town centre/civic’. The rear portion will be re-zoned as ‘Community open space’ and this plan change is already underway.

6. The PCSG was accepting and appreciative of the CLD suggestion to survey the community through the online options we have used in the past. This will be done if there are any major variances from the LandLAB Park+ concept design.

7. There was discussion regarding the heritage value of the existing buildings on site, and whether the retention and repurposing of buildings versus a complete rebuild would be an issue. The consensus was that the design selected by the community would be the priority and either option (repurpose or demolish/rebuild) would be acceptable as long as the selected design was achieved.

The next meeting of the new Project Control Steering Group has been tentatively booked for the first week of October and we look forward to seeing the progress from LandLAB’s detailed design work then.

So, it is all very exciting!

We are extremely pleased and delighted with the progress that has been made to date and the ‘can-do’ attitude of everyone around the table. Ponsonby Park is on its way with only 10 months until work is scheduled to begin on site.

And while we are here – the CLD group would also like to take this opportunity to wish Martin and everyone at the fabulous Ponsonby News a very happy 30th birthday issue. Three decades is a huge achievement! We are grateful for all the support you have given to Ponsonby Park – which has been unfailing and substantial. Thank you and Happy Birthday! (JENNIFER WARD)

For more information, follow or contact us on Facebook: ‘Ponsonby Park’ or on our website: www.254ponsonbyrd.org.nz

 

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