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Is it important to protect heritage areas like Lake Waiwhakareke and Hamilton East? What other areas do you think should be protected?
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What places do you think are heritage sites in Hamilton? What do you think we should do with them?
Special character areas are neighbourhoods in the city that have distinctive and consistent qualities that set them apart as being unique.
Character is a combination of both the built and natural environment and can include a mix of land uses, building types and ages, site layout, street patterns, topography and vegetation.
Claudelands, Hamilton East and Templeview are recognised as special character areas in the District Plan and specific provisions apply to these neighbourhoods to maintain and enhance their character.
Likewise some natural landscape features are already identified around Lake Waiwhakareke and on its ridgelines.
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Comment 1 31 Aug 2010, 9:03 AM
Removed by moderator, this was posted here in error
Comment 2 17 Sep 2010, 8:48 AM
Craig P posted "Just had a quicklook at the site (www.waiwhakareke.co.nz) and it is a. pretty out of date but looks like lots of people did lots of good work 5 years ago but someone found a reason not to go ahead with it so we are now consulting on it again. If it was a good idea five years ago then it probably still is - if it was a dumb idea 5 years ago then it probably still is (There are always exceptions to prove this wrongI know) but sometimes it seems that significant energy and alost always time is wasted on consulting - I suspect the planting from 5 years ago would now be substantial - but alas there was a reason not to get started back then if I have read the website correctly.
The question I have is - is there a general plan to develop this area of hamilton into a touristy sort of a place or is this more of a reaction to some high energy people with a seemingly good idea."
Comment 2.1 17 Sep 2010, 2:05 PM
Waiwhakareke is very much a current project with greater numbers of plants going into the ground each year by an increasing amount of enthusiastic volunteers. The Friends of Waiwhakareke Group meets on the last Saturday of every month (except December) to plant and weed at the park. As at September 2010 16 hectares out of the total of 50 plantable hectares had been planted and further funding is currently being sought from a range of sources for the 2011 planting season. Held at the park in June, this year’s Arbour Day was one of the largest that Hamilton has seen more…
Comment 3 22 Sep 2010, 11:17 PM
To be honest i believe heritage is a very important part of our lives but when it comes to our heritage sites or buildings, hamilton has a reputation for letting things go. My main concern is that even if we place buildings or areas under protection will the council pay the bill to enusre there areas stay looking great or will they eventually become an eyesore and when some business man comes around and wants to use the area or building to make improvements do we turn around and say no we like the look of a tired old building that noone uses therefore slowing down what could be improvements to this city?
Comment 4 17 Oct 2010, 10:45 AM
HCC should also be looking at buildings and homes of local and significant NZ Architects, such as David Mitchell,Terrance Vautier, Dick Mercer, Bernard Glasson, David Sayers, Rod Smith, Ron Sang, Mary de Lisle plus others which are scattered around the city within these next generation suburbs from the 50, 60 and 70's. While HCC doesn't need to necessarily protect these individual buildings, HCC should have a database of the buildings, so when development applications are submitted for these properties, their architectural merit can be taken into consideration.
Comment 4.1 29 Oct 2010, 2:40 AM
Yes I worked for DIck Mercer at his property in River Rd and he had a amazing gully as well, it was a great combination of house and environment design, we live across the gully from one of Dick's designed houses and again a similar outcome. So yes definitley agree. It would be money well spent and a history of Hamilton's built development.
Comment 5 17 Oct 2010, 10:46 AM
I agree that some areas of Hamilton will need protection moving forward. While I agree that Claudelands, Hamilton East, Templeview need immediate protection, HCC needs to look beyond these areas to the what comes next. Once these areas are protected, developers will just move into the next financially convenient area. HCC should be looking at areas established in the 50-60's to see if any are worth protecting, such as Beerescourt, Maeroa and Forest Lake, with many original huntly brick homes (unique to this part of NZ) and weatherboard homes.
Comment 6 18 Oct 2010, 8:57 PM
The new district plan needs to ensure that we preserve what little architectural heritage we have left. The struggle to try to save Haye's Paddock, and the problems with Hamilton East and Claudelands in the past all reflect very badly on the lack of ability of our previous plan to protect anything. The recognition of the problem is a major step in correcting it, so it is important that what is put in place in the new district plan does ensure the careful assessment and preservation of our distinctive buildings and those of historical importance.
Hamilton has a unique gully system, which is being cared for, and it is very important that this care continues and develops to cover all of the areas within the city. Our lakes are also important, particularly Rotoroa, Waiwhakareke, Rotokauri and even Forest Lake. These should be given priority and funding to restore as fully as possible so they can be enjoyed by future generations.
Comment 6.1 29 Oct 2010, 2:25 AM
Yes agree, these natural features are what defines Hamilton/Kirikiriroa we ned to put significant fundign towards these now and continue into the future. The investment willbe returned signifciantly as the rigourous Business Plan for Waiwhakareke showed.
Comment 7 22 Oct 2010, 8:45 PM
A heritage registry would be a good start. While it might initially be seen as a problem by the home owner (trying to maintain/update/renovate an older structure within heritage guidelines), it sets those properties apart from the others thereby creating a niche market for them increasing their value.
Comment 7.1 29 Oct 2010, 2:36 AM
Agree to we owned a bungalow in Claudelands that we lobbied with others to have included inthe "Claudelands character area" of which we were successful. We did have although a falling down old corregated iron garage (probably built hap hazardly when someone needed a garage for the car back in 1930s!). Should that have been retained. We demolished it but kept the rimu tongue and groove garage doors and all the rimu framing that wasn't rotten. We built a garage in a similar style to the house using weather boards and battens, we brought old windows the same style as the house, we purposely used corregated iron (coloursteel) for the roof all of which we didn't need under the "character area" rules, we did this because it made good design sense. I made some gates out of the old rimu doors, and yes the gates were in a style of the bungalow era so all looked great. Just need to make sure that there are standards, not too regulatory, but that add value to the original intent of the design, whatever it maybe.
Comment 8 29 Oct 2010, 3:27 AM
Yes I do think we need to protect heritage areas like Waiwhakareke/Rotokauri. If it is to be developed, develope with the landscape and exisitng features as the key to the character of the area. As mentioned in my comments to dodgyev Comment 4 , Dick Mercer designed houses and I can think of other gully properties that have a good blend of the built and natural environment.
I do think that there are some significant challenges. I know of trees that have been protected e.g. privet due to their landscape and heritage features but to the deteriment of the surrounding more…
