Twenty Years of Standing Up for Kerikeri to Grow Well — Why the Next Six Months Matter the Most
This is the first in a five-part series from Vision Kerikeri on what's at stake for our town — and how you can help.
When Vision Kerikeri was founded some twenty years ago, you could still park outside the Post Office without circling the block. Today the Packhouse Market opposite the chocolate factory draws 800 people on a Saturday — and runs Sundays and late Friday nights besides. Every weekday, around 2,000 students travel in and out across the town for school — Kerikeri High, Kerikeri Primary, Riverview, Springbank, Harvest Christian School — plus the Little Ones at New Shoots, Arohanui, Harinui, Busy Bees, Kerikeri Kindergarten, Playcentre, and other playgroups. A recent housing-demand analysis by a local real estate firm estimated a further 1,700 daily commuters, many serving our retirement villages.
Back in 2018, FNDC noted that Kerikeri Road had become the busiest road in the district aside from State Highways. It still is — reportedly carrying roughly 12,500 vehicles a day.
Kerikeri township's population has more-or-less doubled in the past 30 years, from 4,030 residents in 1996 to an estimated 8,700 today, plus further growth in Waipapa and surrounding areas. Unfortunately, the roads, the wastewater infrastructure, and the Council's plans have not kept up.
For two decades, Vision Kerikeri volunteers have turned up to every Council plan review, every planning consultation, and many hearings. A decade ago, we contributed ideas to a Structure Plan for Kerikeri-Waipapa — adopted by Councillors in 2008, then left to languish on a shelf. We have pressed and keep pressing for a proper Masterplan, urban design standards, and a better Spatial Plan for Kerikeri. We continue to press for the new 'ring road' through the CBD — planned, promised, much of the land purchased, but still not built.
Led by Rod Brown, a team of wonderful volunteers has restored the Wairoa Stream — our Friends group has transformed it from a weed-choked drain into a walkway Kerikeri is proud of. And we continue to press for a town centre people can actually walk around rather than only drive through.
Some issues we won. Some we lost. We pursued all of them with sound justifications and — where possible — evidence from engineers, planners, ecologists, because we learned early that factual information is essential for improving planning decisions.
One of the things twenty years have taught us: Council plans for Kerikeri's future are not decided with any meaningful community input — consultation too often amounts to a superficial 'tick box' exercise. Our future is decided in Council staff reports, in hearings, and increasingly in the Environment Court.
Here is just one example of what's quietly at stake: the Proposed District Plan allows for six-storey buildings (commercial or residential) in the CBD — and buildings up to 16 metres high won't need a resource consent. That means any negative impacts on neighbours and the CBD are simply ignored. Rows of tall buildings would turn our narrow main street into a dark tunnel, blocking sun from pavements and cafés. The new Plan also allows three-storey infill housing across central Kerikeri, again without resource consent. These changes would erase the human-scale town character and "village feel" valued by many in our community — and undermine a vital new economic initiative essential for boosting our local economy. Unfortunately, most people in Kerikeri are unaware of these big changes.
We believe the communities that shape their future will be the ones who show up — prepared.
Right now, Kerikeri faces the most consequential planning decisions in a generation, and the next six months will decide them. Over the coming weeks, we'll tell you what's at stake, what we've already done, and what happens if nobody stands up for our town.
This series ends with a request — but let's start small.
Hiring a hall for our Annual General Meetings costs $120, including refreshments. If twenty years of campaigning for improvements is worth a cup of tea to you, our account is Vision for Kerikeri and Environs Incorporated, Kiwibank 38-9020-0683647-02. Every dollar goes to this work. Our group runs lean — no office, no salaries, just hard work by a team of committed volunteers.
Comments