Transition Pt Chevalier Meeting - 12 March 2013

Present – Adee, Graeme, VJ, John (UofA), Melissa (UofA), Jessica (UofA), Toby (UofA), Curtis (UofA), Jenny, Niki, Walter, Adrian, Deryn, Anna

Apologies – Keith, Yolanda

1.       Accounts - $15 spent on our stall for the community market

2.       Fruit trees – The ones in Premiere Ave are doing well, Adrian will start a dialogue with the council very soon to ensure planting of new trees can occur in winter this year. There was discussion about how to maintain the trees and make them look tidy and easy to mow around for the council. Mulch and grass clippings were discussed as options. Adrian will talk with Simon from the council about the situation and organise a working bee.  Graeme offered worm peat to feed the trees.

3.       University of Auckland Masters of Urban Planning – Five students attended our meeting to offer to plan a project for us.  The project has a deadline approximately six weeks from now. Options discussed were:

·         Mapping of the area – showing the waterways, contours, soil types, what is already growing wild, what is happening in the parks, where the big trees are; asset mapping of the social infrastructure is another option. This was seen as useful for future activities such as tree planting and allowing us to recover water ways.

·         Discovering the action plan for Motions Creek and how we could contribute to the clean-up of this creek.

·         Finding out what buy-in there is from the Pt Chevalier community for sustainability, with the possibility of a survey to find out about people’s attitudes.

·         Finding out what people in our suburb have in the way of fruit and vegetable production, with an eye to encouraging the sharing of food.

The Motions Creek project is the one we are taking forward. This will involve finding out what the council, Western Springs College and other groups are doing in relation to Motions Creek, and what it would take for the water to become swimmable.  The students could look at other models for creek clean-ups, like the Oakley Creek and Project Twin Streams.  Adee will be the key liaison person for this project.

4.       The localizing food tour. VJ will with liaise Robina, and be the lead person on offering a session in Pt Chevalier. Walter, Adee, Adrian, and Niki are happy to help out as required.

5.       We discussed the council’s offer of paying for or providing a community space. A community space was seen as preferred in terms of being more accessible, but it also needs to be welcoming and comfortable. Niki is to find out if the council will pay for a non-council space, others are to investigate alternative community spaces.

6.       We voted to join the plastic coalition, for a $28 US fee. Deryn to organise.

7.       Community market on March 23. Niki is organising this. We’ve paid our $15 stall fee. Ideas for the stall and people to help are still being sought (although we can manage with what we’ve got). Jenny is to provide a poster about the community garden and there will be a sign-up sheet for people to join, Niki to find last year’s report on fruit trees and a sign-up sheet for anyone interested in this (and will pass names on to Adrian), Deryn will bring a banner, we will have a raffle for anyone who walked or cycled to the event and provide a prize drawer. Yolanda, Bruce, Deryn and Niki will be on the stall and Niki and one other will run a “Conversation with Transition Pt Chevalier”

8.       Permaculture Hui. This was attended by Walter, Niki and Ellen. Walter described some of the magic and we requested a more detailed report at the next meeting.

9.       Community garden – We are looking for more people to get involved in the garden, as there isn’t the input at the moment to maintain high maintenance plants. The future of the garden is uncertain, but the energy is still there to keep it going.

Meeting closed at 9.10pm

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