Kāpiti mayor K Gurunathan. Photo / Jack Penman
Weekly column by Kāpiti mayor K Gurunathan.
The beach, especially during sunset, is one of my best meditative mind spaces and, here in Kāpiti, we have the luxury of miles of access to enjoy this opportunity.
While this mind space is a private one, the physical space we take on the beach is a common good.
One that comes with private and social responsibilities.
But first, a word from a local resident.
Back in 2012, in the heat of a regional debate over amalgamation of all the region's councils into one super council, the media quoted a notable Waikanae resident (yes, Kāpiti has many of these hidden nuggets of expertise and wisdom).
Sir Brian Elwood, ex-Palmerston North mayor of 14 years, and former Chief Ombudsman, was also the brains that led the Local Government Commission's 1989 reorganisation that saw 800 local authorities re-jigsawed and boiled down to fewer than 80 larger entities.
Questioned about the 2012 amalgamation of the Wellington region he said: "The community identity is not the council.
"The council is a service organisation.
"The community creates its own identity and its the people that are important and they will create their identity."
I quoted him during that 2012 debate and have never forgotten this wisdom.
His observation is useful again today as we experience a serious threat to the role of councils as advocates of local democracy.
CEO of Local Government New Zealand, Malcolm Alexander, speaking to Zone 4 members in Wellington on Friday, said the Government's push to reform councils' management of its three waters programme was poised to lead to an existential threat to the future business of local authorities as we have known it.
"A massive truck is heading in your direction," he said.
In further punctuating this threat, Malcolm drew attention to the Government's reform of the RMA.
He quoted Tony Randerson, chairman of the Resource Management Panel.
Randerson used his intro to the panel's 522-page report to touch on two matters "outside" the panel's terms of reference.
One was on the rights and interests of Māori.
The other relates to the reform of local government: "It has become clear to us that the resource management system would be much more effective if local government were to be reformed.
"The existence of 78 local authorities in a nation of just five million people is difficult to justify.
"Much could be achieved by rationalisation along regional lines, particularly in improving efficiencies, pooling resources, and promoting the coordination of activities and processes.
"Reform of local government is an issue warranting early attention."
A massive truck is indeed heading in our direction.
Be that as it may, in the meanwhile, Sir Brian's observation is still valid as council releases its Draft Beach Bylaw for submissions.
We are the Kāpiti Coast and our 44km stretch of beach has always defined us.
Holiday baches, fishing, swimming and boating have shaped our growth as a string of seaside communities like Paekākāariki, Raumati Beach, Paraparumu Beach, Waikanae Beach, and Ōtaki Beach.
Increasing population has created permanent settlements.
Today we have more than 1800 coastal properties enjoying beach amenities, commanding high values and paying for that value in rates. Increased use of our beaches comes with tensions between users.
We are reviewing the Beach Bylaw.
The Statement of Proposal and Draft Beach Bylaw is backed by an analysis of a varied database including a history of service requests, emails, seven pop-in information sessions across the district, a survey with more than 1000 responses, conversations with community boards, boating and surf life saving clubs, and inputs from GWRC, DoC and the police.
A key problem is the issue of vehicles on beaches.
Legitimate access for launching boats and for those with disabilities have been compromised by hoons endangering not only public safety, but also damaging the dune ecology.
A serious concern is the frustration felt by those good people working hard to regenerate our precious dune ecology, only to witness idiots in cars and motorbikes ripping through them.
This is exacerbated by the inability to secure council or police action to stop this mindless vandalism.
The situation is complicated by jurisdictional issues between DoC, GWRC and KCDC over different parts of the beach and an under-resourced police force having the sole power of enforcement over vehicles driven along the beach.
The beach is technically a road under the Land Transport Act.
The police have "pressured" council to consider operational steps to prevent unauthorised vehicles from gaining access to our beaches.
The Statement of Proposal is intended to test the option of using electronic or other easy-to-operate barrier gates to keep out unauthorised vehicles.
There are other issues, such as a proposal to extend horse riding opportunities and the safety management of longline fishing.
As Sir Brian notes, council is a service organisation.
We are serving you notice to have your say on managing Kāpiti's greatest natural asset.
The submission period starts on October 12 for five weeks.
