Upmarket sports bar shapes up for Gate Pa
A neighbourhood tavern featuring an upmarket sports bar will open in the new Gate Pa shopping centre within two months.
"It will have the Imbibe quality fit-out but in a different style," said developer Mike Colisimmo. This includes three big screens above the bar, leather seating inside and cafe-style dining in an outside courtyard.
The tavern will be run by the CornerStone Pub operators, David and Eseria Tocker. The CornerStone on The Strand in Tauranga is running a competition to find the best name for the Gate Pa bar. The winner will receive a $200 bar tab.
The $30 million Gate Pa shopping centre, between Mitre 10 Mega and 22nd Ave and fronting Cameron Rd, will be open by June.
The new shopping centre has a attracted a range of new retailers to the city - such as Red Rooster Chicken, Wendy's Old Fashioned Burgers, Columbus Coffee, Michel's Patisserie, Total Food Equipment and Jaycar Electronics.
The drive-through Red Rooster restaurant will be opening during the second week of May, followed by the anchor tenant New World Supermarket, which will be run by former All Black Robin Brooke.
-Graham Skellern
Barrier goes up
Gates have been erected at Mount Maunganui's Salisbury Wharf in a final bid to prevent young dive bombers from endangering their lives and splashing others.
The tubular steel-framed gates were put in place on Tuesday and have an aluminium panel bolted and welded to them. They carry signs stating the purpose of the wharf and an Environment Bay of Plenty bylaw forbidding jumping or swimming within 50m of the structure.
"The gates are off-set so people can easily walk through them.
There is no intention of stopping people from going on the wharf but we hope when they walk on they check the signs and see the bylaw," said John Budden, senior property consultant at Tauranga City Council.
"It looks very functional and may well lead to a new kind of sign for all of our wharves - just announcing the name of the wharf and what its purpose is."
He said the new long-term community plan is to purchase a pontoon or raft for Pilot Bay, near to Salisbury Wharf, so that jumpers have a purpose-built platform to dive from.
"But we need to see if we can get some funding for that."
In the meantime, the activity at Salisbury Wharf will be closely monitored, added Mr Budden, who reiterated the potential dangers dive bombers create near boats.
"The signs should draw attention to the dangers of jumping off. The risk and danger - propellers are like a mincing machine and the injuries can be horrifying.
"That's why we're doing this - to make them (jumpers) aware of the inherent danger of jumping around a vessel."
-Natalie Bridges
Shredder safe
The green-waste shredder at Te Maunga has been inspected and deemed safe.
It is the only one in the Western Bay similar to the machine that dismembered New Plymouth man Chris Fromont last month. That horrific incident - in which Mr Fromont lost both legs and an arm - triggered a nationwide inspection of all machines by the Department of Labour.
Last Friday, two Western Bay Occupational Safety & Health staff members spent an hour at the refuse transfer station examining the crushing machine. Staff were also briefed on correct operational procedure.
Te Maunga compost site manager Malcolm Taylor understood department representatives were working their way around the country.
He said the inspection uncovered a couple of minor issues with the shredder - including a loose catch on the engine cover - but nothing significant or potentially dangerous.
-Rachel Tiffen
Still sailing
Bay Ferries owner Roger Leigh has confirmed his fast ferry service on Tauranga Harbour is there for the medium term at least.
Last month the Tauranga ferry operator was threatening to call it quits because of docking clashes with its rival at Salisbury Wharf, despite Tauranga City Council's plans to build another pier at Mount Maunganui.
Mr Leigh said the possibility of legal action over their feud with the rival operator over his priority right to land at Salisbury Wharf and collect passengers, has still not been discounted.
Mr Leigh said the problem hadn't gone away, but he and his wife Jean will stick out for the winter, and see how things evolve.
He said in the past two weeks they had met council officers to look over initial proposals for a new pontoon at the wharf, with three possibilities being presented, but each option needed major considerations in terms of proper water depth soundings, dredging and suitable moorings, and so on.
The council's senior property consultant John Budden said council has decided on a preferred option since that meeting, and it just needs the Leighs to sign off on the concept design plans.
Once they do so, it is hoped the regional council can fast-track the plans through the resource consent process.
"We hope to have the whole project completed within three months."
Mr Budden said more details on the plans and costs should be available within two weeks.
-Sandra Conchie
