November 2020
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November 2020 Official Bulletin of: THE ORIENTAL BAY RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION Inc. Wellington The Oriental Bay Residents Association has decided to have a SOCIAL GATHERING this year rather than a Special General Meeting. It will be held at The Copthorne Hotel (Level 7) Oriental Parade Wellington between 5.30 and 7.00 pm on Thursday 3 December 2020 Poet and writer, Rachel McAlpine, whose poetry book How to Be Old was published to great acclaim in October, will be our speaker. We hope you can join us to raise a glass to the Christmas season. Jackie Pope / Ann Mallinson Tui return to Oriental Bay: spotted feeding on harakeke flowers along Oriental Parade Photo: Kevin Isherwood 2 Mega-ferries threaten water sports on Wellington Harbour achties fear KiwiRail’s two mammoth Cook Strait ferries, which are due for delivery in Y 2024, will spell the end of racing and, in fact, other water sports in Wellington’s inner harbour. To accommodate the new ships, KiwiRail wants to move its Interislander terminal from its present site at Kaiwharawhara to Kings Wharf, next to its rival Bluebridge. KiwiRail won’t share facilities with Bluebridge. The Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club has been sailing on Wellington Harbour for 137 years. Situated on Oriental Bay, the club runs yacht races year-round, mostly in the inner harbour. Commodore Pedro Morgan says races start in front of the yacht club and finish near Kings Wharf, so the new ferries would cross their start and finish line. “The new ferries will be up to four times the size of the existing ships. That makes them harder to turn, harder to stop, harder to accelerate and significantly harder for them to manoeuvre around a hazard, like a yacht or canoe in front of them,” Morgan said. The club says this would pose major safety concerns not just to yachties but to all recreational users, including sailors, rowers, waka ama and swimmers. These concerns are shared by Councillor Nicola Young and Daran Ponter, chairman of the Wellington’s playground. For how much longer? Wellington Regional Council. “This is Wellington’s playground. We managed to reclaim the waterfront some decades ago. We don’t now want these great hulks plying their trade in the middle of our city,” says Councillor Young. Councillor Young claims that KiwiRail’s move to Kings Wharf would mean “we are going to have about six kilometres of extra traffic per day per ferry. It would be like having a huge industrial site right in the middle of the city.” The need for expansion of the existing ferry terminals to meet projected growth is not under question. Daran Ponter says it has become increasingly urgent to make a decision on a new ferry terminal. “Freight volumes will continue to grow and tourism will ultimately rebound, presenting much-needed opportunities for regional economic growth. Road freight is forecast to rise by 7% per year, rail freight by between 4% and 5% and passengers by 8%.” 3 Two years ago the Future Ports Forum, comprising representatives from KiwiRail, Bluebridge, Wellington Regional Council, CentrePort, Wellington City Council and the New Zealand Transport Agency, was set up to look at where to best situate the capital’s new Cook Strait ferry terminal as part of a billion dollar investment in new wharves for both Wellington and Picton. The working group produced a short list of four primary locations, and finally scored Kaiwharawhara, which KiwiRail’s Interislander ferries currently use, as the preferred site. It was agreed the new site would be shared by the Interislander and Bluebridge. Daran Ponter says KiwiRail left the forum before the final report was released because they did not agree with the location. “Because they were on the working group they had an understanding of where the report was going to land in terms of its recom- mendation, they clearly didn’t agree with Kaiwharwhara as the preferred recommendation, so they pulled out in advance. Not helpful, but it’s an interesting David vs Goliath: way of doing KiwiRail tries to muscle in on Bluebridge’s Kings Wharf berth business.” Key factors in the Future Ports Forum’s decision included earthquake and natural hazard resilience, operational efficiency, impact on the transport network and on the economy and marine safety. KiwiRail says that the seismic rating and earthquake resilience, which at Kaiwharawhara is marginally lower than at Kings Wharf, should override all other considerations. Structural engineers say the Kaiwharawhara site can be built to cope with earthquakes but geotech scientists are less sure. KiwiRail chief executive Greg Miller says it was the geotech report that made KiwiRail stop and think. “You can engineer your way out of many things, but what we’re told by the engineers is that the cost of mitigation is extremely high, so there is a cost component to this that you cannot ignore.” But GWRC chairperson Daran Ponter said while KiwiRail had zeroed in on the seismic issues at Kaiwharawhara, Kings Wharf also had problems. He says the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake showed how fragile the port was. The port received more than $600 million – the second biggest insurance payout in New Zealand’s history – for damage suffered in the quake. “Kings Wharf sits midway between the container terminal and the new BNZ centre, both of which were taken out in the November 2016 Kaikoura earthquake. So, wherever you locate yourself around the CentrePort site, you are potentially still open to being challenged by an earthquake.” Ponter is adamant that KiwiRail cannot go it alone in deciding the new terminal. “Other harbour users need to be considered too.” The idea of a 220-metre mega-ship berthing next to them terrifies Bluebridge owner, Strait NZ. 4 A computer simulation of the proposed Kings Wharf site found that the Interislander ferries could cause chaos for other ships in the tight space and less room for error in bad weather conditions. The simulation found Bluebridge ferries could only berth successfully 64% of the time, and one simulation saw a ferry crashing into the marina. So where to from here? CentrePort is now preparing another assessment report for a new site, but Miller said he was not keen to share a facility with Bluebridge at Kings Wharf because KiwiRail needed a single-use terminal. Documents seen by Radio New Zealand show the length to which KiwiRail may be prepared to go to get the site. An email from KiwiRail’s general counsel, Jonathan Earl, to KiwiRail managers in May raised the possibility of using the Public Works Act to seize the Kings Wharf site. Miller has denied that was an option they were pursuing. “It’s quite an interesting notion from KiwiRail that they can blithely use the Public Works Act whenever they feel like it. I don’t feel that’s an appropriate instrument to use in this instance,” is the opinion of regional council chair Darran Ponter, who also said that, regardless of KiwiRail’s preferences, ultimately the port company had to accommodate both operators. While the saga of the new ferry terminal drags on, the people of Wellington remain in the dark as to how much longer they will have safe recreational access to their inner harbour. Ratepayers may be wondering why KiwiRail wants to have its own terminal and not share with Bluebridge. They may also be asking, “Why two terminals? We don't have two airports.” — Kevin Isherwood Want to know what’s happening in your neighbourhood? Join OBRA and meet the locals Support your community Present your opinions to Council Provide articles for Bay View Online Visit our website to join and renew membership: www.orientalbay.org.nz/renew 5 Councillors challenged on ratepayer issues BRA editorial committee raised the following three issues with our three ward O councillors, Nicola Young, Tamatha Paul and Iona Pannett. We asked for their responses to the subsequent questions we raised: 1. Dysfunctional Council Ratepayers see Wellington City Council as a dysfunctional organisation. Their concerns are based on a pattern of behaviour by some councillors whose motivations appear to be driven by political ideologies. The perception is that these councillors are putting their interests ahead of the needs of the wider community. As a consequence, we feel that the city is now in a state of paralysis. Question: — What will you be doing to ensure that future Council decisions will be made in a cooperative and collegial manner, putting an end to the disruption and negativity we have seen to date? Councillor Nicola Young’s response: “City councillors swear an oath to put Wellington’s interests above all else; I take this oath seriously – my decisions are guided by putting Wellington first, rather than a party political obligation. Council is a political environment, and the Labour, Green majority means the Mayor simply doesn’t have the votes; that’s a major part of the problem. Although I may not always agree with my fellow councillors, it’s important to be pragmatic, remain courteous and avoid using social media as a weapon. I have good working relationships with councillors and staff, and aim to be seen as a hard-working Lambton ward representative who gets things done, despite being unaligned: for example, working with OBRA to achieve a sensible compromise on the Oriental Parade cycleway design.” Councillor Tamatha Paul’s response: “I believe that there must be a balance of finding common ground amongst colleagues and being able to acknowledge where there are fundamental differences in opinion, for example on what services the Council should deliver. For me, I actively work to find solutions with colleagues across political lines.