Blog Posts

Lake Okareka Community Association - AGM

1/12/2017

Lake Okareka Community Association - Annual General Meeting
Sunday 11th February 2018 10.00 am in the Lake Okareka Community Hall

All property owners and people living at Lake Okareka are welcome to attend.

Nominations for LOCA Committee

We encourage nominations from the Lake Okareka community for the positions of - Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer or as one of the 10 Committee members.

These nominations are need 14 days before the AGM – emailed to loca.secretary@gmail.com by Sunday 28 January 2018, as required by the LOCA Constitution.

Nominees and their nominator and seconder must be financial members of LOCA, at the date of the AGM.

If you have a matter that you would like discussed at the LOCA AGM, please feel welcome to come along and raise it at the AGM.

Alternatively, if you are unable to attend the meeting, please contact the Chairman Henry Weston 3628 190 or any of the Committee members – names and contact details are inside front cover of “The Newsletter”.

Christmas Carols & Nativity Show 2017

29/11/2017

Chairman's Report - September 2017

28/9/2017

We’ve had a busy six months as your LOCA Committee. It’s a big thanks to all the Committee members for all your efforts and so many others who continue to work, often unseen and behind the scenes, to make Okareka a great place to live.

Some highlights from the first six months:

We now have a strategic plan and thanks for all your feedback. The plan is not set in stone, and we want to keep hearing your views on what is important to you and what you think we should be focussing on. Really we want to build on what’s special about our place – looking after our natural environment and supporting the vision of a pest-free community, continuing to develop our walking and biking tracks and ensuring that the right infrastructure is in place to support visitation to Okareka, supporting our local community groups and volunteers in their work, and developing really strong and constructive relationships with the Department of Conservation, local councils and our community board, iwi and others. It’s remarkable how much feedback I get about how engaged, positive and constructive it is working with the Lake Okareka community and this is something we should look to protect.
Through our partnership with the Lakes Community Board, we have been provided with an AED (defibrillator) that will be placed in the area of the Acacia Rd jetty and will complement the one already available in Steep Street; we also secured funding to support the local tennis club with its clubroom development; and funding to purchase some of the ‘goodnature’ self-setting traps to support neighbourhood pest control. The traps will shortly be available for residents to use. And we’re looking to amend our constitution to make it easier for our community vote using a proxy.
We have put a lot of time and effort into working with both the Regional Council and Lakes Council on the serious issue of our very high lake levels. Through working with the Regional Council in particular, we have been able to help develop some temporary solutions and help the Regional Council communicate more effectively through our networks, and especially through our Lake Okareka Facebook page. There’s lots more to be done here – as an immediate issue that needs ongoing attention, and as a longer-term solution is developed. But excellent relationships are in place with the key agencies so we think the platform is there to progress this.

Our next priorities are to explore a connecting bike/walk track up to Tarawera Rd – both to keep our kids off the main road, but also to open up another recreation opportunity; to push ahead with discussions with key groups about how (or if) under-grounding our power-lines is an option for us; and to work more closely to support our fantastic groups (primarily Landcare Okareka, Forest and Bird, the Botanical Society) who are involved in pest and weed control. The abundance of tui, dabchicks, kereru, and mistletoe is a testament to all they do.

One thing we do always need is more families and individuals who can give a few hours to help with our work running the local campgrounds (the money from this work comes straight back into the community) and helping both Forest and Bird and Landcare with their working bees. These are great opportunities for families to give a bit back, for school students to gain some valuable community work for their CVs, and to meet people. Please contact either Sandra Goodwin or Geoff Palmer to hear how you can help - geoff.palmer@xtra.co.nz or sgoodwin@actrix.co.nz.

It feels good to be heading into Spring!

Henry Weston

LOCA Special General Meeting

26/9/2017

SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING

Saturday 14th October 2017 at 4.00 pm at the Lake Okareka Community Hall

The Special General Meeting has been called by the LOCA Committee following a request at the Annual General Meeting in February 2017, for changes to the LOCA Constitution to allow for proxy voting and to only permit one vote per family subscription.

(See proposed changes to wording of LOCA Constitution on the next page)

Spring Social Get Together

This Special General Meeting will be followed by a
Spring Social Get Together from around 5.00 pm

LOCA Committee will supply ham, buns and salad and refreshments.
All Financial members of LOCA welcome to attend.

S. Goodwin
Secretary

Lake Okareka high lake levels BOPRC update #2

14/7/2017

Update From Hariata Ngatai, Marketing and Communications Advisor from Bay of Plenty Regional Council.
This is the plan that we are currently working towards:

·         Machinery is already on site to undertake earthworks to clear the area, however, due to heavy rainfall over the last 24 hours the earliest that we can start is this Sunday 16th July. We expect that this work will take 3-4 days.
·         We will purchase/hire the pipe and pump, and have it delivered and ready for installation once the earthworks are complete. It is estimated that installation will take 3-4 days.
·         We are having conversations simultaneously with all landowners in and around the site area to let them know what we plan to do and how the works may affect them. We will need to ensure they are all on board before we can start operating the pump.

In addition to the work on the ground, we are also making an application for the consent to cover emergency works and the upgrade to the pipe at a later date.

Other information:
·         I have attached a graph of the lake level for the past 7 days. This information is available online:https://www.lawa.org.nz/explore-data/bay-of-plenty-region/lakes/lake-okareka/
·         A flyer will be delivered to all Lake Okareka residents early next week to inform them of the work we are undertaking and to forward any queries through to LOCA. I will ensure that you all receive a copy of that flyer before it is delivered.

I will send another update by next Friday or earlier if there are any significant changes. In the meantime please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Ngā mihi,
Hariata Ngatai
Marketing and Communications Advisor
Bay of Plenty Regional Council Toi Moana

M: 027 588 8170 DD: 0800 884 880
E: Hariata.Ngatai@boprc.govt.nz
W: www.boprc.govt.nz
A: PO Box 364, Whakatāne 3158, New Zealand

Thriving together – mō te taiao, mō ngā tāngata

Lake Okareka Pipeline Valve

12/7/2017

Last night regional and district councillors plus engineers came to Okareka to talk to us about the very high lake level and what can be done in the short term to reduce it. The slides (best viewed in full screen) explain why we have the current situation. Slides 1-7 have rainfall and soil saturation data. Slide 8 shows why drainage is slow (look at the pipe sizes). Slide 14 shows lake levels from 1955 - 2017. Slide 19 lists options for reducing the lake level. The one being investigated and probably implemented is the installation of a pump and pipe system to the Waitangi Stream.

Today contractors and council engineers were meeting at the outlet to work out a plan. The first thing they have to do is remove a slip. The Regional Council has promised to keep us informed on progress. We will be posting their communications and other relevant information here.

BOPRC - Mitigating Lake Okareka Water Levels
File Size:	3359 kb
File Type:	pdf

60776 Consent Conditions
File Size:	150 kb
File Type:	pdf

LOCA 3 Year Plan

23/4/2017

Chairman's Report - AGM 2017

15/3/2017

Once again Lake Okareka has been a great place to visit and holiday over the summer school holidays with good weather and increases in tourist numbers putting pressure on the roads, lakes, parking and campgrounds. There have been times when the Top 10 Motorcamp at Tikitapu and the DOC and Boyes Beach
camps have all been at capacity.

Events at Tikitapu have also resulted in large numbers of day picnickers diverting to Okareka. Revenue for the month of January from overnight parking at Boyes Beach and camping at the DOC camp was well above previous years at $10,000 and $26,000 respectively. The DOC figures were boosted by a 30% price increase in camp fees at the end of last year.

Community Survey This has now been completed and the executive summary and a link to the full report was circulated in the December newsletter. The response from the residents and property owners has been excellent with 227 responses and a very wide range of comments and suggestions. APR Consultants’ initial expectation of a response to a survey of this nature was approximately 150 replies so a very big thank you to all those who made the effort to respond.

The committee has not had time to discuss the results in detail but it is pleasing to note that there is ongoing support for the three partnership projects we have with DOC (Management of the DOC campground and new walking track from Boyes Beach to the outlet) and RLC (Management of the Boyes Beach overnight campground). LOCA Partnership Agreements For the record details of these 3 Partnership. Agreements are attached to this report (page 5 of the newsletter).

Lake Okareka 10 year plan This was requested at last year ’s AGM and resulted in the commissioning of the survey which will form the basis of any long term plans and will be a priority for the new LOCA committee. LOCA is fortunate in having the Boyes Beach camp revenue available for projects such as the survey and the committee felt it most important it be independent and professionally managed which came at a cost (approx $10,000). In my view we now have much valuable information (the raw data covered more than 100 pages) and is an investment in the future.

Mobile Phone Coverage The availability at long last during 2016 of mobile phone coverage and improved broadband reception at Okareka has proved a very real asset to locals, visitors and tradesmen etc working in the area.

Waste Strategy The major change from paper rubbish bags to the wheelie bins and crates for bottles is resulting in a substantial reduction in rubbish going to the landfill. The smart new containers on the public reserves are also a great improvement although some fine tuning of containers and public education will further improve their usage.

Health and Safety Change The introduction in April last year of major changes to the Health and Safety regulations affecting volunteer groups were important to Landcare Okareka and key people attended a number of training meetings to ensure workers on the new walking track and working bees etc complied with the requirements.

The Boyes Beach walking track We are grateful to DOC for naming this track The Lake Okareka Community Walking Track so it is not confused with the RLC track on the eastern side of the lake. The Historical Importance of Boyes Beach to Iwi Attached to this report are 3 pages from the Te Arawa Lakes deed of settlement pertaining to the Boyes Beach recreation reserve and Tuhourangi and their many hapu. In particular I would draw your attention on page 377 to Principle One : Use and Enjoyment.

LOCA Management Structure For some time now the committee has been concerned at the workload on our Secretary Sandra Goodwin and it is now timely to review the structure to ensure LOCA is efficiently managed and the key people are adequately reimbursed. This will be a priority for the incoming committee.

Newsletter Our editor of the Newsletter for the past five years Maria Haines will not be continuing after the next issue (March) and she will be a real loss. It was Maria who persuaded us to go to full colour and we get many compliments on the high standard of the publication. Thank you Maria. If any of our residents are interested in taking over or are aware of someone who maybe interested please contact Sandra.

Treasurer Bryan Walford our treasurer is standing down from this position but has been nominated to stand for the committee. Over the past twenty years Bryan has made a significant contribution to LOCA as treasurer, newsletter editor and chairman. Thank you Bryan.

End of Year With another year now gone I would like to record our appreciation to the many volunteers in the community who in many different ways contribute to ensuring Okareka is a special place to live and holiday. At the top of the list is Landcare Okareka, Okareka volunteer rural fire force, LOCA volunteer camp wardens, LOCA walking track volunteers, the LOCA committee and the officers.

Geoff Palmer

Introduction From Incoming Chairman - Henry Weston

15/3/2017

As the incoming Chair, I first want to acknowledge the incredible work of Geoff Palmer and other departing Committee members. Local communities rely enormously on the efforts of volunteers and for this group of individuals to give so selflessly over such a long time deserves our big thanks (plus I fully expect they will continue to put in many hours behind the scenes for Okareka!).

Just a very small bit about me – our family came to Okareka from Wellington about 15 years ago – and our three children Jack, Paddy and Stella have grown up, and are still growing up, here. Claire, my partner is an ex-law lecturer, creative writer and PhD student, and a leader in developing swimming skills in the Rotorua community. I’m an ex-lawyer, public servant, consultant type who’s worked in private practice, in the Treaty settlement process and for both the Department of Conservation and Rotorua Lakes Council.

We look like we’ve got a hugely talented Committee to carry on the work for the Okareka community. For me, the focus should be pretty simple – it’s about doing what we can to look after our people (including our visitors) and our place. To do this well, we’ll be wanting to work positively and constructively with all those others who also care about Okareka – including Tuhourangi, Te Arawa Lakes Trust, local councils and the Department of Conservation. We’ll also be wanting to do what we can to support our local entities – the fire brigade, Landcare and Forest and Bird groups, the pre-school, the Waka Ama club and many others.

We’ll make sure we talk a lot to you about what you want.

Henry Weston

LOCA Partnership Agreements

15/3/2017

Boyes Beach Camp Ground

Partnership agreement with the Rotorua Lakes Council to monitor/manage the Boyes Beach public reserve for overnight camping.
LOCA is responsible for collecting and banking all camping fees and the money is to go towards funding community based projects located within the Lake Okareka catchment.
RLC to provide maintenance, repairs and upgrades to supporting infrastructure as per Council's Long Term Plan i.e. toilets, BBQ, fences, playground and general reserve maintenance.
10% of funds collected may be used to assist in the operation of the Tarawera Road Transfer Station.
Agreement commenced Sept 2014 for 10 years and subject to review every 5 years (2019, 2024).

Department of Conservation Campground

Partnership agreement with DOC to efficiently manage the day to day running of the Lake Okareka Campground as detailed in the contract with the Director General.
LOCA responsible for the collection of fees and deposited into the DOC bank account. Each month LOCA invoices DOC for 90% of the fees.
LOCA has responsibility to manage and pay for some maintenance including toilet cleaning etc as detailed in the contract.
Funds collected from this contract to go towards maintaining and enhancing environmental projects in the Lake Okareka catchment as agreed with DOC.
The initial project agreed to was the completion of the Lake Okareka Community Walking Track. Agreement commenced December 2012 and is subject to review every 5 years (2017, 2022).

Department of Conservation Lake Okareka Community Walking Track

Partnership agreement with DOC, Landcare Okareka, RLC, BOPRC, Iwi and other affected party’s to complete a walking track from Boyes Beach to the outlet. This track is part of DOC’s vision to have a series of connected walking tracks around the district lakes Tikitapu, Tarawera, Okataina and Okareka.
There are five stages to the Lake Okareka track and the second of these from Boyes Beach to the DOC Camp Ground is now in place. The contract for this project was finalized in October 2014 with a review every 5 years (2019, 2024)

NB - The camp grounds and the walking track are managed by LOCA with volunteers from LOCA, Landcare Okareka and the Okareka and Rotorua communities.

Geoff Palmer, February 2017