My Account
Car parks unsafe
Gavin Quale, Stanmore Bay (abridged)
Just read the letter in this week’s Hibiscus Matters (June 5) “Salesyard Concerns”. I live along this part of the road and it is of major concern to myself and other residents. When I moved to Stanmore Bay around eight years ago, there were signs along this part of the road advising that sale of vehicles was prohibited. Then one day those signs vanished and the “sales yard” started. I have laid multiple complaints to Auckland Transport, and contacted our local MP. Auckland Transport’s response was the same as Hibiscus Matters’ letter writer received. The MP’s response was that they had over a dozen complaints, and had approached Auckland Transport and effectively been told to go away and nothing was going to change. Auckland Transport is ignoring its own bylaws, which state that “a person must not stop, stand or park a vehicle on any road or parking place for the purpose of advertising a good or service, or for offering the vehicle for sale unless the vehicle is being used for day to day travel” (HM June 5). Most of the vehicles are not being used for day-to-day travel and are left there for days or weeks on end. The recent accident was not caused by these vehicles, but one of the vehicles in the accident stopped 30cm away from one of the parked vehicles. There have been multiple near misses from people trying to cross the road to view the vehicles, and near misses as residents try to get in and out of their driveways – other drivers are distracted by the parked vehicles and drift into the median strip where residents are waiting to turn into their driveways. My wife and I both dread trying to get into our drive and watch in our rear vision mirror as vehicles start drifting across the road towards us, only to pull away at the last second. Police I spoke to during the recent accident also commented on the parked cars not being safe. Quite often vehicles are parked over the bus stop. One morning the bus clipped a vehicle that had a ladder sticking off its roof, which smashed one of the bus’s glass doors. The ladder had no flag on it, and the van was parked over the bus stop. Auckland Transport appears to be above the law and locals are suffering.
Shifting sands
John Simons,Orewa (abridged)
The Feedback letter in Hibiscus Matters’ June 5 issue (called ‘Think again’) highlights the misinformation surrounding the Orewa seawall and the sand replenishment operations carried out by Council. My understanding is that the formation of a seawall at the northern end of Orewa beach, although related to the level and depth of sand cover on the beach, is not exclusively interdependent on the aggregation nor dispersal of that sand. Whether the sea and wave action is left to do its own thing as generally occurs at the southern end or is impeded by some form of sea wall, be it random rocks or a solid wall as encountered further north on this beach, a somewhat unnatural scouring away of the sand occurs. Unnatural in that unfortunately many years ago the small rural council then in charge, probably with the best of intentions, set out to extend the length of the main beach, called in the military who blasted away the rocks further south down the beach and formed a new outlet to the sea for the Orewa River. That action illustrated that man does not always know better than nature. The results remain with us today with the need to constantly replenish sand scoured out by the effects of the altered river flow and a changed marine environment. Therefore the installation of a man made sea wall will have little or no effect on that realigned river flow and altered currents. Perhaps some clever marine hydrologist could offer a workable solution for the source of the problem? The function of a seawall is twofold. One is an attempt to impede the erosion of the publicly owned foreshore land that which sits between the beach and the privately owned properties. Secondly, to form a more permanent, continuous and accessible public walkway along the northern promenade. But do not hold your breath – this has been ongoing in various forms for decades, there are some influential objectors not so much the seawall but relevant to the walkway and the access it affords to the public. Add to that the very considerable cost of construction. But hey if we wait long enough sea level rise may obviate the problem!
Editor’s note: As stated in the story on page 3 of our May 22 edition, if the seawall, as currently proposed, is built, Council expects there will be an enormous increase in the volume of sand transferred from the southern end to the northern end of Orewa Beach.
