Agreement reached with Bayswater Marina Holdings
Takapuna Grammar School Rowing Club has reached agreement with Bayswater Marina Holdings Ltd (BMHL) and has withdrawn its appeal against the resource consent for the redevelopment of BMHL’s land at Bayswater Marina. The settlement comes after BMHL guaranteed there would be no impediments to water access and rowing activities for the Rowing Club – ensuring ongoing viability of the Rowing Club for Takapuna Grammar students. Specifically, BMHL has agreed to:
provide for the vesting of part of the redevelopment as road reserve (as an extension to Sir Peter Blake Parade);
make significant amendments to the conditions attaching to the resource consent; and
enter into the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Rowing Club to frame their relationship during the redevelopment.
The primary objective of the MOU is to improve and maintain, safe, unimpeded access to the boat ramp and the Waitematā Harbour for rowing activities throughout the redevelopment period.
Takapuna Grammar School Rowing Club President, Joanna Gilbert said that the MOU had also been put in place to maintain an ongoing and engaged relationship in respect to both parties’ activities and interests at the Bayswater Marina.
“What we have mutually agreed, marks the end of an anxious few years, dealing with a myriad of redevelopment complexities, navigating the intricacies of the resource management process, and needing to mitigate the threatened feasibility of the Rowing Club.”
She said, “We are particularly grateful that BMHL listened, acknowledged and addressed our concerns that any restriction to the boat ramp, particularly during the rowing season, could be fatal to the Rowing Club and the rowing activities of not only the current membership of student-athletes but also future generations of Takapuna Grammar School rowers.”
This led to BMHL’s commitment to change the staging of their groundworks to fit in with the ten-month rowing season and training schedule.
In reaching this settlement, the Rowing Club wants to acknowledge the help and support that it has received from a broad cross-section of the local community.
Ms Gilbert added, “We are a volunteer-based charity organisation. This has been a long and energy-sapping journey. It has been heartening to receive so much support while we worked to safeguard rowing opportunities for our local children, both now and into the future.”