Port Underwood Association Inc.

Annual General Meeting 3^rd January 2013

Information Sheet:

1. Whataroa Forest Harvesting; Road Usage Proposal:

As noted to members via email and through the December newsletter two companies have applied to Council for permission to use public roads for log extraction from the Whataroa Peninsula Forestry lot. Permission is required as the original resource consent associated with the forestry activities on the land contained a condition that Council permission would be required for the activity of moving logs via the public road network.

If granted permission the applicants proposed to minimise the impact on the infrastructure and public perceptions of logging traffic by way of the following restrictions:

• Prioritising barge transport of logs to Shakespeare Bay for export grades whenever possible (KIS grade logs are more suitable for transport by road due to high handling costs).
• Limiting cartage on public roads to 10 loaded trucks per day (total number of loads for all forests in Port Underwood area).
• All trucks will be fitted with RT’s for communication, and drivers instructed to use road location markers in situ on the road to communicate between trucks.
• No loaded truck movements outside of the hours 7.00am to 5.00pm.
• Minimise the carting of logs through Waikawa Road school zones between the hours of 8.15 – 9.00am and 3.00 – 3.45pm on school days.
• Not using roads within 24 hours of rainfall exceeding 10mm.
• No cartage of logs on Sundays or Public Holidays.
• Working with other forest owners in the area to co-ordinate harvesting to achieve the truck frequency target above.
• No use of the public road between Jerdans Bay and Ngakuta Bay.

Following initial consultation the Association provided suggestions to Council for consideration when reviewing the applicant’s request. These suggestions, to be considered as a starting point for further discussion if a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) were to be agreed, included:

• If a MOU agreed compliance with conditions must be enforceable and subject to withdrawal in event of non-compliance.
• Compliance with MOU a condition in all future consents regards forestry harvesting in Port Underwood.
• Internal road networks be used for all logging traffic.
• All future consents, where internal road network are available be conditional on public roads not being used.
• Public road usage be prohibited for the full extent of public holiday weekends and the full extent of holiday periods (Christmas-New Year, Easter etc).
• Usage times would apply to all heavy forestry vehicle movements (i.e. unloaded log truck, transporters, gravel trucks…).
• Internal forestry road network designed, constructed and maintained to appropriate standard.
• Port Underwood Road saddle parking area be enlarged to enable laagering of log trucks before moving off in convoy.
• Any future application to subdivide Whataroa would require applicant to upgrade and seal Tumbledown Bay Road.
• Forestry worker vehicles be identifiable and have a strict no alcohol policy enforced.

Council has now requested formal submissions from affected parties, closing January 24^th. The meeting today needs to consider:

a)     Should the Association submit and, if so

b)     Provide direction to the committee as to what matters are to be addressed.

2. Freedom Camping By-law Review:

In November 2012 Council introduced a new bylaw under the Freedom Camping Act. Council wants to know what experiences you have had with freedom camping in the Marlborough district over the last year.

Under the bylaw self-contained freedom camping is permissible in the district except for prohibited or restricted sites. Non self-contained freedom camping is only permitted in designated areas. Under the by-lay In Port Underwood this means there is no non self-contained freedom camping allowed other than at Robinhood and Whites Bays. There is no freedom camping allowed at all in Ocean Bay. If campers are found to be breaching the bylaw they can be fined $200.

Before Council decides whether to make changes to the Freedom Camping Bylaw they would like to hear what experiences you have had with freedom camping in the district.

Feedback received from the public and sector groups will be used to help Council determine if changes should be made to the current Freedom Camping Bylaw.

To get more information on freedom camping please see the Freedom Camping Bylaw page of this website. Submissions must be in writing and may be posted to Marlborough District Council, PO Box 443, Blenheim 7240 or emailed to Freedomcampingsubmission@marlborough.govt.nz by the close of 25 January 2014.

Members are encouraged to make their own individual submissions if they have concerns in this area and the Association needs to determine whether it will make a further submission on behalf of members after having submitting through the initial consultation period in November 2012.

3. Association Submissions made 2013:

The following is a summary of the submissions made through the last twelve months by the Association:

a)     Application to renew and extend marine farm at Jerdan’s Bay, Port Underwood. Association made an initial submission in opposition to the extension of the farm but did not appear at the hearing. The extension was approved.

b)     Application to extend a marine farm at ‘The Neck’, Port Underwood. The Association opposed the application and appeared at the resource consent hearing. The extension was granted.

c)     Application for a new marine farm at Whangatoetoe Bay, Port Underwood. The Association opposed the application and appeared at the resource consent hearing, which was adjourned until all parties had further submitted on monitoring conditions for the farm should the application be approved. A decision is pending.

There were two further applications for extension received by Council for farms in Port Underwood. Due to a lack of resource and with reference to the decision to allow the extension at the Neck it was felt it was unlikely the Association had sufficient grounds to warrant a strong case in opposition to those.

4. Sounds Advisory Group meeting in Port Underwood

A reminder to all that the next Sounds Advisory Group meeting will be at Ken And Sara Roush’s, 2417 Port Underwood Road, 2 km south of Ocean Bay (on the water side of the road) at 1:00pm, 24th February 2014. All members are invited and encouraged to attend.

5. Contact Us:

The Association is looking to centralise and rationalise the manner in which members can communicate with the Committee. To this end we have created a single email address that will be utilised for all outwards and inward email correspondence with members. That address is:

Port.Underwood.Association@Gmail.com

In future you should only receive emails from this address.

We strongly encourage members to provide us with an email address if at all possible as we feel we are more able to keep members updated in a timely manner via that medium.