The first night of the Other Side festival at Joe's Farm was a success, the event organiser says. Photo / Nickpaulsennz
The first night of the Other Side festival at Joe's Farm was a success, the event organiser says. Photo / Nickpaulsennz
The Bay of Plenty Times is looking back at the stories of 2021. Here's what made headlines in January.
January 1
Revellers at Whangamata welcomed the new year in with a bang at the Festival of the Other Side at Joe's Farm.
About 15,000 people flocked to Joe's Farm for the new event on the outskirts of Whangamatā.
While one group of unruly teens ran rampant in Whangamatā, rioting and causing damage in the streets, Eastern Waikato area commander Inspector Dean Anderson said they were underage youths rather than those attending the festival which was R18.
Home values in Tauranga jumped a whopping $76,000 in the last three months of 2020, recording the highest value growth since about 17 years ago.
The city's average property value was $876,122.
CoreLogic NZ's latest House Price Index showed Tauranga's quarterly growth rate rose an "extraordinary" 10.2 per cent from $800,000 the previous quarter.
Stained and ripped mattresses, mouldy sofas and urine-stained items were among the goods dumped on the doorsteps of Tauranga charity stores - with the cost falling back on those trying to help.
Stores across the city reported seeing a spike in the dumping of broken or unusable goods outside their sites over the holiday period, with offenders choosing to strike when no one was around.
Manager at Tauranga's Doing Good Foundation store Shelly Rey said stained and ripped mattresses and mouldy sofas were just some of the things workers found dumped outside their premises after the holiday period, but also on a regular basis.
She said the dumping of broken, unwanted goods was an "ongoing issue" and they were taking more than a van load a month to the dump at their own cost.
Doing Good Foundation worker Lynette Hogan-Sorter. Photo / NZME
January 22
The cost of one of the Bay of Plenty's largest roading projects jumped to $262 million and was delayed by another year.
The Baypark to Bayfair Project, also known as Baylink or B2B, on State Highway 2 at Mount Maunganui will see flyovers built bypassing two busy roundabouts.
When the first sod was turned on this phase of the project in 2017, it was expected to cost $120m and be finished by 2020. The most recent estimate pegged the cost at $146m and the completion date in 2022.
In January, however, Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency confirmed the estimate had risen to $262m, finishing in December 2023.
The underpass at Bayfair was popular with pedestrians and cyclists. Photo /File
January 23
The fragments of a family broken by grief, confusion and helplessness came together to mark one year since Julian Varley disappeared on January 23.
They let off lanterns and shared memories, and had difficult conversations about how everyone was holding up.
As the anniversary drew close, Varley's mum and best friend spoke to the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend, sharing publicly for the first time their fears he will not come home alive.
Tauranga City Council is offering a new optional green waste service to residents this year, it was announced.
From July, households would be able to choose between four-weekly collections at $60 for the 2021/22 year, or fortnightly collections at $95 for the 2021/22 year.
The cost of each collection works out to less than $5.
The cost of the service will be added to the household's rates bill.
The optional garden waste kerbside collection uses a 240L wheelie bin and is available for residential households only and will be collected on each household's existing collection day either fortnightly or four-weekly.
