RESOLVED

THAT the apology of Cr J M Bubb be received and sustained.

HC07/49 Carmine/Gordon CARRIED

There were no late items.

Reports of the matters dealt with by way of delegation from the period 1^st April 2007 were submitted separately for the Committee’s information.

RESOLVED

THAT the reports of delegated matters be received.

HC07/50 Carmine/Gordon CARRIED

MEETING HELD THURSDAY 10 MAY 2007

RESOLVED

THAT the minutes of the meeting of the Hearings Committee held on Thursday 10 May 2007 be taken as read and confirmed.

HC07/51 Gordon/Carmine CARRIED

Notation of Exemption to Fencing of Swimming Pool Act onto Certificate of Title

The Regulatory Services Manager clarified the ruling concerning the condition that the property owner be responsible for costs to have a notation of exemption added onto the title of land for the information of a future owner. He advised he had received concerns from a number of applicants dissatisfied that they must incur this legal cost.

The applications listed were received seeking an exemption from the fencing of swimming pool requirements.

Mrs B J Barry – 05002/335.00

Mr & Mrs Morton -05030/235.03

Mrs Craddock – 05002/311.00

A detailed report from the Regulatory Services Manager and Monitoring Officer for each application including supporting documents was attached.

The Regulatory Services Manager advised the Committee that Clause (c) of staff recommendations regarding the addition of an alarm be deleted if in every other respect the exemption met all other requirements of the Act.

The hearings commenced at 9.15am.

MRS B J BARRY, 26 WAIMAREI STREET, PAEROA (24KB)

The Applicant was not in attendance.

The Committee agreed that Clause (c) be deleted as a condition of waiver.

The Chairperson advised that Council’s decision was reserved until it had considered the evidence presented and all other relevant matters.

After considering all the evidence the Committee:

RESOLVED

THAT the request from Mrs B J Barry seeking a waiver from the requirement of Clauses 8 to 10 of the Schedule to the Act be granted on the grounds that it would be unreasonable for the access to the pool from the house to comply with the Act. Clause 11 of the Schedule to the Act allows for this specific situation on condition that the doors are fitted with a lock that, when properly operated, prevents the door from being opened by children under 6 years of age. Allowing the exemption would not significantly increase danger to young children.

The waiver is subject to the following conditions:

1. That all doors with access from the dwelling into the pool area be fitted with a key operated lock that when properly operated prevents the door from being readily opened by children under the age of 6 years. All windows opening out into the pool area are to be fitted with an inhibiting device to prevent the window being opened more than 100mm.
2. That the door with access from the dwelling into the pool area is locked shut when the pool is not under adult supervision.
3. That the decision of Council be entered on the title of the land for the information of a future owner.
4. That in every other respect the pool and fencing complies with the Fencing of Swimming Pools Act 1987.

HC07/52 Carmine/Gordon CARRIED

MR & MRS MORTON, 15 MATAURA ROAD, WAIHI  (24KB)

The Applicants were not in attendance.

The Committee agreed that Clause (c) be deleted as a condition of waiver.

The Chairperson advised that Council’s decision was reserved until it had considered the evidence presented and all other relevant matters.

After considering all the evidence the Committee:

RESOLVED

THAT the request from Mr & Mrs Morton seeking a waiver from the requirement of Clauses 8 to 10 of the Schedule to the Act be granted on the grounds that it would be unreasonable for the access to the pool from the house to comply with the Act. Clause 11 of the Schedule to the Act allows for this specific situation on condition that the doors are fitted with a lock that, when properly operated, prevents the door from being opened by children under 6 years of age. Allowing the exemption would not significantly increase danger to young children.

The waiver is subject to the following conditions:

1. That all doors with access from the dwelling into the pool area be fitted with a key operated lock that when properly operated prevents the door from being readily opened by children under the age of 6 years. All windows opening out into the pool area are to be fitted with an inhibiting device to prevent the window being opened more than 100mm.
2. That the door with access from the dwelling into the pool area is locked shut when the pool is not under adult supervision.
3. That the decision of Council be entered on the title of the land for the information of a future owner.
4. That in every other respect the pool and fencing complies with the Fencing of Swimming Pools Act 1987.

HC07/53 Gordon/Carmine CARRIED

MRS CRADDOCK, 11 MCDONALD PLACE, PAEROA (24KB)

The Applicant was not in attendance.

The Committee agreed that Clause (c) be deleted as a condition of waiver. The Committee requested that the locking device shown on the single garage door be fitted with a tower bolt to replace the existing lock which was considered inadequate. A waiver will be granted once this lock has been fitted.

The Chairperson advised that Council’s decision was reserved until it had considered the evidence presented and all other relevant matters.

After considering all the evidence the Committee:

RESOLVED

That the request from Mrs Craddock seeking a waiver from the requirement of Clauses 8 to 10 of the Schedule to the Act be granted on the grounds that it would be unreasonable for the access to the pool from the garage to comply with the Act. Clause 11 of the Schedule to the Act allows for this specific situation on condition that the doors are fitted with a lock that, when properly operated, prevents the door from being opened by children under 6 years of age. Allowing the exemption would not significantly increase danger to young children.

The waiver is subject to the following conditions:

1. That all doors with access from the garage into the pool area be fitted with a key operated lock that when properly operated prevents the door from being readily opened by children under the age of 6 years. All windows opening out into the pool area are to be fitted with an inhibiting device to prevent the window being opened more than 100mm.
2. That the door with access from the garage into the pool area is locked shut when the pool is not under adult supervision.
3. That the decision of Council be entered on the title of the land for the information of a future owner.
4. That in every other respect the pool and fencing complies with the Fencing of Swimming Pools Act 1987.

HC07/54 Carmine/Gordon CARRIED

The hearings closed at 9.30am.

MATTERS TO BE TAKEN WITH THE PUBLIC EXCLUDED

RESOLVED

THAT the public be excluded from the following parts of the proceedings of this meeting.

The general subject of each matter to be considered while the public is excluded, the reason for passing this resolution in relation to each matter and the specific grounds under section 48(1) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 for the passing of this resolution are as follows:

Item No.	General subject of each matter to be considered	Reason for passing this resolution in relation to each matter	Ground(s) Under Section 48(1) for the Passing of this Resolution
1	A Fisher and J & B Thomas Earthworks	Maintain legal professional privilege. Section 7(2)(g)	Section 48(1)(a) That the public conduct of the relevant part of the proceedings of the meeting would be likely to result in the disclosure of information for which good reason for withholding would exist.

RESOLVED

THAT the public be re-admitted to the meeting and the business discussed confirmed.

HC07/57 Carmine/Gordon CARRIED

The meeting closed at 10.10am.

CONFIRMED

D M Carmine

7 June 2007