Chip Re Sealing over Hot Mix

Chip Re Sealing over HotMix

Residents have rejected the practice of placing chipseal over existing hot mix roads in Papamoa subdivisions. This was brought to a head following the very poor chipsealing on Oriental Parade and Oreti Crescent in April 2019. After many meetings to discuss the repairs to Oriental Parade we are now in December 2019 with no remedial agreement.

Subsequently TCC announced resealing will only be like for like, but no solution for Oriental Parade and Oreti Crescent to date. Below is a series of emails to TCC and after the second email there is a link to all the emails sent since April 2019. There is a lot of reading there..

Letter to Tauranga City Council December 2019

From: Phayer [mailto:phayernz@eol.co.nz]
Sent: Monday, December 16, 2019 10:05 AM
To: 'Phil Consedine'
Cc: 'Melanie Rose'; 'Calum McLean'; gillow.com@xtra.co.nz; pkgulik2@gmail.com; Peter Powley; ron.melville@eves.co.nz; Elaine & Bob; angerfamily92@gmail.com; marty.grenfell@tauranga.govt.nz
Subject: RE: Resurfacing Oriental Parade and Oreti Crescent

Hi again Phil

Another week has now passed since I sent my first reminder enquiry to you (below) and residents have still had no update, following our meeting on 29 November 2019.

Since this is probably the last full working week for many, before Christmas,  am concerned that it is starting to look like we will hear nothing more until into January of 2020. It is a long time now since we had our first meeting with TCC representatives back in April 2019 and since our petition was heard in front of Council and Mr. Grenfell back in August.

Whilst writing I thought it may be pertinent to add a few more photos taken just this morning. TCC have repeatedly advised residents the surface would “settle down” and that surface failings are only localised. It is now well over a year since the resurfacing work was completed in 2018, and yet the stripping and abundance of loose stone chips in the rainwater channels is clear for all to see.

Please advise your progress urgently, so that we may be aware of what is happening behind the scenes.

Regards

Chris Phayer  

Letter to Councillor Steve Morris from resident Chris Phayer 9 July 2019

Hi Steve

Good to meet you properly last night and to hear you agree with our small band of not so merry men, and that you consider the road surface on Oriental/Oreti/Bucklands is totally unacceptable.

Can I please ask what that phrase means to you, insofar as my interpretation of your words is that a “totally unacceptable road surface” would most likely need to be completely ripped up and replaced? If that is what you are thinking then great, if not then there could be a devil in the detail of a political statement.

Another reason I ask is because the email received from Calum McLean this morning (below) would suggest to me at point 1 that he is hanging on to an idea of only patch repairs being necessary? This does of course represent progress from our first meeting with Calum, during which he was fairly adamant the road surface is largely acceptable (yeah right!!), but given the situation to date you may understand why I am both sceptical and have very little confidence in what Calum is overseeing and intending.

The road surface is continuing to deteriorate quite noticeably, with increasing patches where chips have now completely dislodged and what appears to be the original road surface can be seen grinning through the new chip seal. This is less than 12 months after the work was carried out; even the most basic product purchased will come with a 12 month guarantee won’t it?

I also picked up on your explanation about turning circles, which are left in hotmix due to the increased wear of vehicles turning – makes sense to me. However, the turning circles in Oreti Crescent have not been replaced and so I’m thinking, if the original surface is still deemed to be in acceptable condition in the areas of most wear and tear, then why in blazes was the rest of the road re-surfaced. Surely logic suggests it was either in better, or at least similar, condition to the turning circles?? Doesn’t make sense and especially when TCC are financially strapped and could benefit from delaying resurfacing and the like for as long as possible??

As a group we are really keen to have transparency and to understand plain and simply what the council are thinking/doing. We now know that council agree with us that work is not acceptable, but there is little detail on what that looks like to council and my scepticism radar starts to beep. As I said last night, at the most basic level, I just want a quality job to replace the quality road surface that we had previously – plain and simple. However, the responses we keep getting just lead to more and more questions.

Cheers

Chris Phayer

To read the complete correspondence with the Tauranga City Council since April 2019 click here to open the document.

Chipsealing letter sent to Mayor and all Councillors August 2019

Dear Mayor and Councillors,

Yesterday two petitions were presented to the TCC rejecting the chipsealing over existing hot mix surfaced roads in the Papamoa area. We, the Papamoa Residents and Ratepayers Association would like to endorse the message of the petitions and to issue the following statement.on behalf of the association.

Kind regards,

Philip Brown Chairman PRRA

"Chipsealing Comments — Papamoa Residents & Ratepayers Association 

The Papamoa Residents and Ratepayers Association works on the principle that everything the Tauranga City Council does should be for the betterment of the community, no matter how big or small.  

The TCC policy of chipsealing over the top of existing hot mix roads does not provide any betterment or even maintain the status quo.  Chip sealing increases road noise, looks untidy, leaches “tar” and road metal chips onto garage floors and pavements.  In all, it is a cheap backward step. 

The TCC have said that this is their ongoing policy for road maintenance, why?  Recently in Papamoa we have seen a very poor application of new chipseal in Oriental Parade which was an absolute travesty.

The PRRA supports the residents who are petitioning the TCC today to stop chipsealing over existing hotmix roads.  There are many unanswered questions, do these roads need this chipsealing? , what are the various options and standards of chipseal available? 

We would like the TCC to publicly show the various chipsealing options available and the specifications. And then to show the costings for hotmix v chipsealing.

The chipseal solution the Tauranga City Council have chosen at present looks to be the wrong solution. "