Simon Gundry is a Devonport and North Shore identity, and character, who is known for calling a spade a spade. He is a director of contracting company Gill & Gundry, is an enthusiastic sailor (past crew-member of Ceramco New Zealand, Lion New Zealand and Shockwave) and is a life member of the North Shore Rugby Football Club. Simon was awarded a QSM for services to the community in 2013. More recently, he was inducted into the North Harbour Business Hall of Fame. He has been writing this thought-provoking column for Channel from the very first issue (over 14 years ago!).
Last month’s Cyclone Vaianu (somebody told me it’s the Samoan word for disappointment) was, thank God a non-event in the Auckland area, as all we needed was another great storm. What I do wonder is, when we have almost 1,000 people working between Niwa and Met Service, why can’t we get our forecasts right? I can’t believe that we have in excess of 60 trained meteorologists working at the National Forecast Centre in Wellington. What the hell are they doing all day?
I’ve heard through the grapevine that Mr Marina himself, the gentleman who developed the marinas at Opua, Tutukaka, Orakei, Kennedy Point and Bayswater, is looking very seriously at putting a trailer boat marina into Torpedo Bay, Devonport. This would be a boutique type marina just for trailer boats, as there are little to no adequate launching places at that end of the peninsula for the trailer boat and small fishing boat community. This marina wouldn’t be large, just providing marina areas for 50 small trailer boats, which would take up room not exceeding 2,000 square metres. The plan is to dredge out Torpedo Bay using mud creek technology, which allows the possibility of reclaiming land using the soft marina silts to provide car park areas. Using the marina silts that would be excavated out for the car parking would be a better alternative than disposing of them at sea, which is now very problematic. The car parking area would be closely monitored by AI and drone technology, thus not needing any Auckland Transport traffic wardens. The length of parking would be automatically put on the owner's boat account. The whole area would be beautifully landscaped to a very high degree using a designer who has designed the best marinas in California, I believe.
I personally think this would be a great idea, saving local boaties that arduous trip up Lake Road, where they have to launch at a very congested and overloaded Takapuna boat ramp. Torpedo Bay, in my eyes, would be perfect for this small boutique marina. His idea would also include converting the three houses on Queens Parade (the houses on reserve land that are slowly decaying away due to maintenance) into a boutique hotel, encapsulating the three houses under one identity.
The plan is also looking at putting a small boutique restaurant at the end of Torpedo Bay wharf, very similar to what you’ll see at Santa Cruz, just south of San Francisco.
I can remember back in the 1970s, there was a plan to convert Ngtaringa Bay into a marina suburb, with housing and boat marinas side by side. This was stifled by the locals, leaving the Devonport Borough Council a bill of nearly $1million to pay the developer in compensation.
The locals of Narrow Neck have expressed their concerns regarding the skatepark project at Woodall Park. The locals do not want a shoddily built local skateboard park at their doorstep and have previously highlighted several fundamental issues with the project, including compliance issues with the 1977 Reserve Management Plan for Woodall Park, which does not provide for the installation of any skateboarding infrastructure in the open spaces of the park.
The latest Devonport Takapuna Local Board plan sites the proposed skatepark on part of the tennis courts next to the Devonport Squash Club. It would require the removal of one of the existing tennis courts as well as the cricket nets, both local amenities that are currently well used by budding local sportspeople and family groups alike.
The Local Board first approved the project “Ngataringa Park – investigate the skate park use and relocation” in June 2022. In August 2023, an assessment concluded that Woodall Park in Narrow Neck was the best site for a replacement skatepark. Over $100,000 has been spent on fees and consultants, etc., to date. The ongoing waste of ratepayer money over a period of several years on a project with inherent environmental and compliance risks is appalling.
It was great to watch a bit of good old-fashioned running rugby at the Takapuna Rugby Club last month, with North Shore playing Takapuna. Two iconic clubs slugging away under a threatening cyclonic sky. There was a big crowd out filling the bleachers on the northern side of Onewa Domain, watching the great amateur game of rugby. Good old-fashioned stuff, long may it last.
