Kapiti Coast Round-Up

strong>Community Garden Parties set-up throughout Kāpiti

The pilot for Kāpiti Community Garden Parties, events designed to get to know neighbourhood gardens and how to support them, is happening across the district from now until mid-April. Eight of the Kāpiti Coast’s twelve community gardens are hosting parties that offer workshops, seed swaps, and potluck community celebrations.

Sustainable Communities Coordinator Vanessa Crowe says that learning around community gardens and building community are the primary focuses of the events.

“We hope to raise awareness of the many community gardens in Kāpiti and help them to thrive. The parties bring communities together to think about and celebrate what is special and unique about each garden.”

Ms Crowe says that local food production is championed through the garden parties, which reduces environmental footprints and increases community resilience.

“The parties are an absolute win-win for the Kāpiti District; this Saturday, 24 February, the MOA community orchard on Jeep Road Domain in Raumati South is hosting a walking-talking workshop through the orchard. Cree Hatfield is facilitating the event and will be leading discussion around knowledge-sharing for anyone wanting to grow fruit in Kāpiti. A communal potluck meal and entertainment from local musicians will follow.”

The series is part of the Sustainable Communities Kāpiti programme, other initiatives included in this programme are the Greener Neighbourhoods grant, The Over The Fence Cuppa event for Neighbourhods Day and No8 Wire Week which happens in July offering a week of free and affordable events and workshops which encourage resourcefulness and environmental protection.

For more information and a complete calendar of events, please see: http://www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/Our-District/on-to-it/community-garden-parties/

Dog control survey wraps-up in Kāpiti

The Kāpiti Coast District Council will be consulting on the Dog Control Act later this year and it plans to use the community’s input collected from a public dog survey to help shape the direction its questions take.

Over six weeks, Council received 260 submissions from the public around dog control issues. Environmental Standards Manager Jacquie Muir says that Council engaged the community early because Council wants community’s concerns around dogs and their place in the District to better inform the consultation.

“The Kapiti Coast had nearly 7500 dogs registered this past year through Council. That number has been increasing year-on-year for several years which tells us that dogs are a very important part of many people’s families here in our community.

“We know that people hold strong opinions about dogs and the rules that oversee their responsible ownership. Those opinions help us to make informed and balanced decisions about dogs. Our goal is to make Kāpiti Coast a safe, comfortable, and inclusive community for both dogs and people.”

Ms Muir says that public comments and complaints collected by Animal Management team members in the field are also being compiled to inform the upcoming consultation.

Main issues identified in the survey were that dogs should be on-leash in densely populated areas, the need for rules to be enforced, there is a lack of clear dog control signage throughout the district, and people want more designated dog parks.

The formal consultation around the current Dog Control Act will kick off later this year when people will have another opportunity to have their views heard.

Summer roadworks update surfacing

Kāpiti Coast District Council plans to take advantage of the expected improvement in weather to complete its annual resurfacing programme on local roads and is reminding drivers and footpath users to keep an eye out for traffic management signs throughout the District.

Neil Williams, Roading Network Performance Team Leader, says that during the programme, surfacing and chip sealing will be done in almost 40 different streets, on about 20kms or 5 percent of the 410km network Council manages, starting on 26 February, weather dependent.

“We’ll be letting residents in these locations know before work begins, but it’s important everyone stays alert for changes on the roads while our contractors are working, usually between 7am and 7pm on weekdays. Traffic delays will be kept to a minimum,” he says.

The latest rounds of works locations are available on the Council’s website – www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/roading-information.

Kāpiti District speed limit review underway

This week and next, the Kapiti Coast District Council is getting in touch with residents and businesses located on roads where speed limit changes are proposed, as part of the first stage of a district wide review of local roads.

This follows work done in 2017 with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Kapiti’s community boards to help Council identify and prioritise roads to be looked at in a two year programme. The review is designed to ensure roads in the District are safe and operate efficiently. The second phase of the review – which will include different roads – will commence next year.

Sean Mallon, Group Manager, Infrastructure Services say the roads for review have been prioritised according to the level of safety concerns they present, and whether there has been significant change to the road environment since speed limits were set.

The community will have the opportunity to provide feedback on the proposals between now and end of April, starting with an online survey that opened this week.

“Locals know our local roads and how people use them, and we value their thoughts on the proposed speed limits for these specific roads,” Sean Mallon, Group Manager, Infrastructure Services said.

The survey, a full list and maps of the proposed areas of change, which are throughout the District are available on the Council’s website or by emailingspeedlimits@kapiticoast.govt.nz.

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