www.times.co.nz
10 — Botany and Ormiston Times, Thursday, November 3, 2016
property
Vacant site set for development ■■By Marianne Kelly
TIME LINE
A
three-hectare site in residential Bucklands Beach, blighted by years of controversy, is about to head into happier days with plans to establish a boutique retirement village. Last May BeGroup New Zealand purchased the Thurston Place property from the Whenua Haumi Roroa o Tamaki Makaurau Limited Partnership which acquired it in August 2015 from the Ministry of Education under the Right of First Refusal (RFR) provisions of the Nga Mana Whenua o Tamaki Makaurau Collective Redress Act 2014. The site formerly housed the Waimokoia residential school which was closed in 2009. It then became the focus of fierce resident resistance when, in 2010, the Ministry of Education proposed to build a secondary day college for children in CYF (Child, Youth and Family) care. “We instantly saw value in the site for what we do and pulled out all stops to secure it,” says Guy Eady, BeGroup’s managing director. “Our research showed there were not a lot of options [for retirement] on the peninsula. “From a demographic point of view we believe the market needs a retirement facility. For anyone who lives on the peninsula and wants to stay here, there are limited choices.” BeGroup operates The Falls Estate in Whangarei and is currently developing Rawhiti Estate on the site of the former Rawhiti Bowling Club in Remuera. It’s currently applying for resource consent for the Half Moon Bay development. Stage one will involve 60 independent living apartments and associated communal areas including a heated indoor swimming pool. The rest of the site will be developed for more retirement apartments, a rest home, hospital, and memory loss care unit. The company hopes to make a start on stage one in the second half of next year and anticipates an 18 month to two-year build. The total cost of all stages is anticipated to be more than $100 million.
Consultation with the local community has started, the company’s chief property officer and Cockle Bay resident, Brett Meyer says. “We had a meeting with the Pigeon Mountain Primary School board,” he says. “The school is a direct neighbour and we’ve agreed to continue to allow for a school off-loading place on the Thurston Place site but it will be controlled so that it’s a safe drop-off place for children and parents.” The company had its first meeting with immediate surrounding neighbours a month ago. “We introduced ourselves to them and told them of our intentions for the site,” Mr Meyer says. “We are committed to keeping
them informed as we continue to come up with concepts.” The aim is to have the residential apartments replicate the appearance of a sequence of detached houses on several levels, but all connected on the lower level. Mr Eady says the philosophy is to create an asset for the community, “a place where elderly people can congregate and live, where a lot of people will want to visit them. It will be a special place.” Currently members of the public use the site as an access linking with walkways to the Half Moon Bay ferry and BeGroup hopes to incorporate a “controlled access” walkway into the village design. Equipped with their Gold Cards, Mr Eady says the ability to jump
Photo supplied
on a ferry and travel directly to Auckland will be a nice benefit for the residents, while the westerly side of the site will afford views over the Half Moon Bay Marina and to Auckland. “To find a good sized site in the middle of a residential mature suburb is not something we find every day of the week,” he says. “Our business needs scale to be able to run the village services so we need a site big enough for it. That’s why we’re excited.” Also, Mr Eady says, retirement village residents generally make good neighbours. “This is because it will be their home as much as if they were living anywhere else in Bucklands Beach. They don’t drive fast and, by virtue of their age, are very neighbourly.”
1980: Waimokoia School opens, but harsh disciplinary treatment of students and low staff morale bedevils it. 2005: An Education Review Office Report (ERO) says staff training should include an ongoing component on keeping themselves safe by ensuring that they understand the risk they may run in touching students. It also calls for a review of the use of time out where students are placed in a small concrete shed with no windows. 2009: Three staff members are charged with assaulting students; but a jury fails to reach a verdict. One is acquitted and another dies before a retrial. November 2009: Waimokoia School closes after suffering a long history of governance issues. August 2010: The Ministry of Education proposes to build Thurston Place College for up to 100 teens in Child, Youth and Family (CYF) care. But after fierce public resistance the MoE backs down and site work for the new school is halted. October 2010: Waimokoia social worker Graeme McCardle, 59, is found guilty on 15 out of 24 charges dating from the 1980s which include indecent assault and sexual violation. He is sentenced to six years imprisonment. October 2012: McCardle is released following his second parole hearing. August 26, 2015: The Thurston Place property is purchased by the Whenua Haumi Roroa o Tamaki Makaurau Limited Partnership under the Right of First Refusal (RFF) provisions of the Nga Mana Whenua o Tamaki Makaurau Collective Redress Act 2014. May 2016: Auckland Council says it received an application for a 43lot subdivision on the site which was subsequently withdrawn. Demolition of remaining buildings continues. May 2016: BeGroup New Zealand buys the vacant Thurston Place site.
Caregiver escapes prison ➤➤From page 3 Tempered against that though are issues including an ability to make reparations – albeit slowly – and an alternative to jail in the interests of rehabilitation, a noncustodial sentence was a strong option. He reminded her that she avoided jail “by a relatively fine margin”. Chris O (the Times has chosen not to use his full name in case it leads to the identification of one of the parties whose details are suppressed) said the family is considering a civil action. The judge intimated that any further recourse to recovering losses could perhaps be pursued with a civil action. “My grandmother repeatedly asked to have the police notified but the village wouldn’t do so until they had completed their own investigation,” Mr O said. “I also asked management to notify their own resident’s association of the thefts and arrest. They refused to, so I did. It was the resident’s association who
suggested I contact the owner after no progress with management.” He said the family accepts the sentence imposed on Lisiate and wanted to send a “clear message” to retirement village residents. “It’s your right to expect a secure environment. Improperly supervised staff may have access to master keys by too easily exploiting security procedures within your village. Locking your independent living apartment isn’t enough to secure your valuable items,” he told the Times. “The true test of the quality of one’s retirement village is how management react in times of crisis. In our case the village manager was totally gutted and felt personally responsible for the damage caused by the carer, yet the village owner accepted no liability for the actions of their staff and told us to expect a reparation order from the courts. “In my opinion, it’s a pretty poor attitude of the owner to have when it comes to the security, financial and emotional welfare of their
paying residents. My grandmother hasn’t even had a written apology from the village eight months later.” He did single out the police for praise though. “We’d like to send our sincere appreciation and thanks to the NZ Police for the way they’ve led the prosecution and partial recovery of the stolen jewellery,” Mr O said. Chris Murphy, director of Villages of New Zealand (Pakuranga) Limited, disagrees with parts of Mr O’s assertions. An apology “was expressed” for the fact that a staff member is responsible for this loss, Mr Murphy said in a statement to the Times. “Our village manager has also conveyed this apology to Mrs X directly. We as a village are deeply shocked and disappointed by this betrayal of trust by a staff member,” Mr Murphy said. “Our first priority throughout this matter has been the safety, security and wellbeing of Mrs X. As soon as we became aware that items were missing, we launched
our own internal investigation, and then assisted the family in the notification of the police. Our internal investigation and full cooperation with the police assisted with the conviction. The village has reviewed its policies and procedures and consulted with the Retirement Villages Association of NZ. “Following this review we consider our policies to reflect industry best-practice in ensuring the safety and wellbeing of residents,” he said. Prior to the recruitment of this particular employee, we ensured her application was subject to reference checks and police vetting, which revealed no criminal convictions. “We have kept our village residents’ committee informed of matter. Our village residents’ committee fully supports our approach to this matter,” said Mr Murphy. “Unfortunately, the victim of this theft did not maintain contents
sinei lisiate
insurance despite express advice from us that the residents do so. “We sympathise with the victim of this theft, have done all that we could reasonably be expected to do to assist the victim and it is quite incorrect imply otherwise.”