Northland news in brief: Mosque condolence book sent south and seawall rebuild starts

Flowers and messages left for the victims of the Christchurch shootings at an impromptu memorial garden in Kerikeri. Photo / file

A condolences book placed in Kerikeri's Procter Library after the Christchurch terror attack has been sent to the southern city. Kerikeri woman Marian Andrews said the book was brimming with messages and signatures when she posted it to Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel earlier this week with a request to pass it on to the city's Muslim community. She added a photo of the memorial garden she started outside Rocksalt on Kerikeri Rd and many of the cards and children's drawings which had been left there.

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A $3.2m project to rebuild parts of the seawall at Opononi and improve the resilience of State Highway 12 in Northland has started. NZ Transport Agency Northland System Manager Jacqui Hori Hoult said the seawall has suffered recent erosion in several places which is threatening SH12. "It will take about five months to reconstruct the seawall at six locations to minimise the effects of scouring and erosion along the foreshore." Access along SH12 will be maintained during construction with a temporary 50km/h speed limit through the work area.

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Whangārei's Quarry Arts Centre has an upcoming exhibition featuring work from its resident artists. Opening next on May 17 at 5pm, the Studio Artists' group exhibition will be held in the Yvonne Rust Gallery at the arts centre. It's billed as a vibrant and eclectic body of work from the resident artists, who work across a wide variety of disciplines and styles, including ceramics, paintings, prints, and carving. Artists include Amorangi Hikuroa, Rosie Parsonson, Dave Taylor, Richard Darbyshire, Lynda Bell, M. Francis McCarthy, Liane Blair, Monika Ruschke, Dell Pryor, Rob Carter, Helen Hughes, Zivana Pauling, Joshua Moetara, and Victor Te Paa. The exhibition will run until June 10.

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A Whangārei District Council contractor will be flushing lines and using a CCTV camera on stormwater and sewer pipes along Mill Rd between Cairnfield Rd and Donald St from May 12 to 24 from 6.30pm to 6.30am. Traffic flow in each direction will be maintained during the work, however traffic may be shifted from side to side to accommodate the location of some manholes that require opening during the work. There will be some noise during the activity, however work will leapfrog along the road as each 100m to 200m section is completed. It is anticipated stops in each location will take several hours before moving on. Drivers and residents are being thanked for their patience.

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Nightworks are planned to mill off the old seal and resurface Whangārei's five finger roundabout. The work will take three nights from 6pm to 6am starting tomorrow (Sunday). The first phase removing the old seal will happen tomorrow and will see Railway Rd closed from the intersection with Woods Rd to the roundabout and a short detour will be in place. Walton St between Winstone Lane and the roundabout will also be closed with a detour also in place. The second phase on Monday and Tuesday will see the roundabout fully resurfaced with asphalt. The same road closures and temporary detours used on Sunday will apply again. The work is weather dependent with contingency nights of 19-21 May or 26-28 May.

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Far North District Council is making it easier to access and search meeting information online. The Council this week joins over 230 councils in New Zealand and Australia to adopt the Infocouncil software package that makes it easy to produce meeting reports, create agendas and track the outcome of meeting decisions. Infocouncil also uses the Google text search engine to make finding meeting information easier and quicker online.
Minutes and agendas from 2016 to the present are now accessible using the new portal. Older records are available upon request from governance@fndc.govt.nz

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Landowners in Waipū and Paparoa are the latest to be issued with new Northland Regional Council maps showing the potential effect floods – including large 'one in a century' type events – could have on them. The council has released flood maps for 26 catchments over the past few years to raise awareness of where flood hazard areas are and help inform public and district council decision-making. The new flood maps can be viewed in GIS via the regional council's website: www.nrc.govt.nz/naturalhazardsmaps while, general information about flood mapping is available at: www.nrc.govt.nz/floodmaps

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