This week the air vent cowls have been added, and work is going on inside the toilet block.
After chatting with Stephan Titze, the project manager, I learned that once work is complete HDC need to wait for a Certificate To Occupy (CTO) before the building can be used by the public.
The building will be painted once complete, and there is still a thought to cover the walls with a mural by a local artist though there’s a problem with the budget for that.
Based on 95% of the votes, Horizons Regional Council have provided a Progressive result in the election of Councillors for 2022.
HOROWHENUA CONSTITUENCY (two members)
EMMA CLARKE: 5,887
Sam FERGUSON: 5,417
Donald HAYES: 3,494
Update, 17 October 2022: final results confirm Emma Clarke and Sam Ferguson as the elected members in our area:
Emma CLARKE: 6,853
Sam FERGUSON: 6,261
Donald HAYES: 4,071
The Progress results for Horowhenua District Council elections are available.
The progress result for the Horowhenua District Council elections held on Saturday 8th October [2022] is as follows.
Bernie Wanden has been re-elected as Mayor.
Rogan Boyle and Jonathon Procter have been elected as Waiopehu General Ward Councillors.
This result is based upon the counting of approximately 90% of the returned votes. The progress result does not include some special votes and votes returned today [08 October 2022] that are still in transit to the processing centre.
The roof is on the toilet block, and framing is in place for two roof vents for the toilet on the Hank Edwards Reserve side of the block. That room will also have a Solatube to bring in daylight as there are no windows on that side of the building.
Air vents which will be hooded. Here's a reminder of the building plan. Plan showing the layout of the block as described below.
Facility Under Construction poster. I emailed Stephan Titze, Horowhenua District Council Parks and Property Project Lead | Kaihautū Kaupapa Papa Rēhia, Rawa, for an update about the toilet block progress. Here’s his reply below.
In brief: work should be finished by the end of October 2022, overall costs are within budget and in about February 2023 a mural will be done. The community will be asked for input on the mural after the other work has been completed.
Part of the structure is being painted. Most noticeable this week is the painting and further progress on the roof. It also seems the floor inside the toilet block itself may have the additional concrete that’s needed to build it up.
Last night I attended a Meet the Candidates evening for those locals aspiring to represent the General Roll in the 2022 local Government elections. Our next local government election is on Saturday 8 October 2022. The elections are held every three years by postal vote. The meeting was held at Ōhau Community Hall where maybe 70 or 100 people attended. The session was well-run, with each candidate given a few minutes to speak followed by up to 5 questions from the crowd.
When I was chatting with the builders a couple of days ago they told me there have been 53 rain days since the upgrade project started. Not only are those conditions unpleasant to work in, but the risk of damage to crucial and expensive tools is a major concern.
The roof trusses are on and internal walls are up in the toilet block proper. The floor height though needs to be increased by about 50mm.
In spite of ongoing wet weather, roof trusses continue to be worked on. The builders told me there have been more than 50 rain days since work on the project began.
The roof on the toilet block is coming along, with the workers even there on Saturday 06 August 2022.
As mentioned in Toilet block progress and roundup as at 20 June 2022 completion was expected by end of August 2022. It’s looking as though that might be possible.
Photos, as usual, have been edited to remove graffiti.
Carolyn Copeland, Roading Projects Team Leader responded to an email from a resident, that asked for: a bike stand at the Reay Mackay end of Waikawa Beach. This request comes in the wake of your authorising a stand for the village end, which is a great addition, and in the hope that the other end of the community, some 4km away, might also have a stand provided. There are many more houses here now, including both permanent dwellers and weekenders.
In the last couple of weeks the BBQ end of the block is really taking shape, with beams for the roof.
Photos, as usual, have been edited to remove graffiti.
We’ve had so much rain lately and water has pooled on the new concrete rather than draining away through the installed grates. When I asked about that I was told the water will drain away into a soak pit, but there’s some difficulty at the moment about the location of the soak pit.
Progress in the last week has been mainly about increasing the height of the walls, and some extra concreting. Next up should be development of the roof and internal walls.
In the last two weeks there has been visible progress on the toilet block. Extra bricks have been added to the walls and framing for doorways has been installed. Several photos have been doctored to remove annoying graffiti. It’s really starting to take shape now.
In response to a query about progress on the toilet block, Stephan Titze, Parks and Property Project Lead at Horowhenua District Council has advised: As you have noticed we had several delays in the construction process which had various reasons. Here just to mention some - Findings on the existing structures / services - Availability / response of required trades / specialists (for example structural engineer) - Weather - Covid At the moment we are looking forward to a completion date by end August [2022].
Power went out again on Wednesday 15 June 2022 at around 0925 am. Luckily it came back less than an hour later at around 1015. Check the Get your household ready for an emergency — Get Ready — Emergency preparedness in New Zealand website for help preparing for emergencies. A few tips for dealing with power cuts at Waikawa Beach, especially since your pumped rainwater supply probably won’t work: keep some bottled water on hand for drinking and for other uses such as hand washing and toilet flushing.
After days of severe thunderstorms rolling through every few hours, on the afternoon of Monday 13 June 2022 at around 3.30 there was a huge lightning flash, an enormous roll of thunder right overhead and the power went off. There were a couple of momentary flickers of the lights but power was eventually restored at around 1015 am on Tuesday 14 June. That’s a total outage of almost 19 hours.
The focus in this stormy week has been on getting ready for concrete.
Note: the high seas (6 metre open sea swell), high tide, high river on 13 June 2022 flooded the bottom end of Hank Edwards Reserve. The water came right up to the fence around the building site. See the Facebook post. There are also driftwood photos in another post after this one.
Work during a very rainy week seems to have focused on preparing for concreting, and also putting up the roof over the BBQ area. Some photos have been edited to remove juvenile graffiti.
Note: our next relevant recycling date is Monday 20 June 2022.
A press release from Horowhenua District Council says: Kerbside Glass Recycling to recommence: Kerbside glass recycling will recommence on Monday 13 June [2022]. There will be no changes to the kerbside collection days or process for residents when kerbside glass collections resume. Glass will be collected from Council-approved recycling crates, one crate per household. Glass from overflowing crates will not be collected due to safety risks to our contractors and community, should any glass fall from overflowing crates.
On the Monday of a week where solid rain is forecast, the new bike stands by the footbridge have been installed, though they’re still roped off. They provide parking for 8 bikes so people will no longer have to pile up bikes against a fence. What’s more it’ll be easy to lock a bike to the stand. Note: I believe it is still the plan to install additional bike stands by the toilet block when work there is complete.