Wellington Civic Trust

DRAFT Minutes of meeting 5:30 pm, 6 March 2017, at Thistle Inn

ATTENDEES / Clive Anstey, Bronwyn Brown, Amanda Dobson, Jim McMahon, Eve McMahon, Sylvia Allan, Bill Robertson, Yon Yi Sohn
APOLOGIES / Jonathan Suggate, Rae Julian, Maurice Clark
Welcome and introductions / Jim to Chair the meeting. Yon Yi to record the minutes.
Minutes and actions / Minutes of the meeting of 13 February 2017 were accepted with amendments.
Moved by Clive. Seconded by Bronwyn.
Correspondence / Inward:
A.  Sanctuary to Sea project: Project Kaiwharawhara – Part of Zealandia’s restoration strategy. Pascale Michel, Project Leader (Conservation and Research) seeking the Trust’s involvement with Project Kaiwharawhara. Sylvia nominated Amanda to participate. Clive also interested in participating.
B.  Let’s Get Wellington Moving Workshop – Willy Trolove, Let’s get Wellington Moving Engagement Stream Lead seeking the Trust’s representation at two workshops. Yon Yi to attend the workshop on 20/March. Bronwyn to attend the workshop on 29/March. Yon Yi to respond.
C.  GWRC Natural Resources hearing. The Trust is involved in 4 of 6 workstreams – Sylvia to follow up/attend.
D.  Trust registration as a charity: letter received from Department of Internal Affairs’ Charities Services Registrar questioning our status. Jim to follow up and arrange a meeting with Charities Services.
Financial Report / Jim reported a current bank balance of $1746.22, including a corporate subscription payment of $150.00 from the Wellington City Council.
Action: Jim will inquire with the Council to determine the source of the payment.
Membership / Jim provided breakdown of past and current members (company, family, govt agency, life member and single) – current total 68.
Category / Member Type / Subscription / Inactive / Active / Total
1 / Company / $150.00 / 0 / 1 / 1
2 / Family / $40.00 / 13 / 10 / 23
3 / Govt Agency / $0.00 / 1 / 0 / 1
4 / Life member / $0.00 / 8 / 0 / 8
5 / Single / $30.00 / 41 / 27 / 68
Action: The Board agreed to the need to launch a membership drive around AGM or shortly afterwards.
Transport / Jim reported on the pushback being mounted by a number of parties against withdrawn of the trolley bus fleet and the dismantling of its power distribution network. He has prepared a paper summarising reasons for GWRC to prepare a business case for retention of the buses and infrastructure which was tabled at a sustainable transport workshop at Porirua Council on 14 February, and has been circulated widely with other transport groups. A trolley strategy meeting has been scheduled by Paul Bruce on 16th March to agree actions and consolidate information.
Action: Jim McMahon will attend this meeting on behalf of the Trust.
Seismic & Resilience / Bill reported on current issues surrounding building codes and submissions to the Building Bill. The effect of the Kaikoura earthquake on Wellington buildings on future building codes will be significant - either the existing code is weak, or the buildings themselves were not up to code. A key lesson from both Christchurch and Kaikoura earthquakes is that plans must be in place before the next event – this includes the prioritisation of which buildings to save, recover and rebuild.
Action: Bill to approach the Council to inquire on their prioritisation strategy and planning.
Action: Bill to develop a strategy to identify essential Wellington character buildings and landmarks and build a priority list for preservation and rebuilding.
Heritage & Conservation / No report
Newsletter / No report. Members are to send a short report on items to Jonathan so that a draft can be prepared and after Jim’s approval, final version sent to members and uploaded to website before AGM. Topics discussed include:
-  Yon Yi: Frank Kitts Park report already sent by Yon Yi to Jonathan
-  Clive: Watts (Miramar) Peninsular update and Mayor’s summit meeting
-  Alan Smith: approach Alan to write a summary on Centreport reclamation
-  Sylvia: Natural Resources Act
-  Jim: cover note and information about the upcoming AGM
Application to Charity Status / The Department of Internal Affairs’ Charities Services has advised that the Trust does not currently meet requirements to register as a charitable entity. The Board discussed the pros and cons of holding charitable status, and agreed the benefits were probably not significant in light of increased reporting requirements.
Action: Jim to attend a meeting to follow up Charity Services’ letter seeking detail of the Trust’s aims and objectives. Yon Yi and Clive to join the meeting – Thursday 9 March, 2 pm at Level 5, 120 Victoria St. Jim to send out a meeting reminder to Yon Yi & Clive.
Frank Kitts Park / Sylvia, Clive, Yon Yi reported on current status – awaiting to hear from the Environment Court on mediation meeting date. Yon Yi reported progress with Save Frank Kitts Park campaign, and plans to present the analysis of alternate site suggestions from the website & paper petitions.
Sylvia suggested arranging a meeting with WCC, explaining why the trust had put in a submission against the resource consent and participated in the hearing last year, and why the trust is now supporting two appeals at the Environment Court as a section 274 party. Clive and Bronwyn are also interested in attending a meeting. Yon Yi to check WCC committee meeting schedule and liaise with Democratic Services staff at WCC. Date probably late April or early May.
Kaiwharawhara / Action: Jim to request Alan Smith’s continuing engagement with Centreport on behalf of the Trust.
Miramar Peninsula / Clive reported that the Parliamentary Select Committee is to receive a report from LINZ that is expected to be favourable to the Peninsula being vested in the Wellington City Council as a reserve.
Seminar / Jim and Clive reported that the seminar is most likely in the second half of the year but before the election (23/Sept). Discussion around a topic and possible partners, as well as venue is continuing.
AGM / To be held on 12 April 2017 at Public Trust building. Guest speaker yet to be decided. Jim to approach Jane Bowron to see if she will speak for 20 – 30 minutes. Maurice is also available as a guest speaker should Jane is not available.
Others / Christine McCarthy of Architectural Center expressed interest in collaborating with the trust. Everyone welcome the approach and will seek areas of jointly working on mutually beneficial areas/projects.
Action. Jim to contact Christine and discuss potential projects for collaboration and utilisation of resources.
Next meeting / To be held at Thistle Inn, 5:30 pm, Monday 3 April 2017.
Closure of meeting / The meeting concluded in 6:50 pm