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More money is needed to make this Puhoi fire station a reality.
The Puhoi Rural Fire Force is trying to revive its fundraising campaign for a new station after getting stranded at the halfway mark.
Work on the foundations of the Ahuroa Road station started last year after the brigade raised $350,000, but it still needs $300,000 to complete the building and fit-out.
Fire chief Russell Green says the brigade applied to Foundation North, formerly the ASB Community Trust, for funding to finish the job, but the application was turned down as the building can’t be used as a community facility.
The restrictions were a condition of the resource consent for the building, after neighbours raised concerns about noise from the site.
“It has to be used as a fire station only, it can’t be used for any community meetings or any other functions for the station members, which is disappointing,” Russell says.
“They were going to be a cornerstone funder of the project.”
The station is trying to renegotiate the consent conditions, as the objecting neighbours have since left the area.
Fundraising for the fire station was the topic of a community workshop in Puhoi on Sunday, July 10.
“We’ve got some new ideas to fundraise through a Give-a-little page, but the main thing was getting the community behind us. They showed they support the project and see it as an important part of the community.”
The brigade has 12 members and has been based at Russell’s business, Puhoi River Motors, for the past eight years.
It is now planning to form an incorporated society and is pushing to get more members.
This month, the Rodney Local Board also agreed to extend the brigade’s lease on the site at 52 Ahuroa Road, near the Puhoi Tearooms. The brigade had a two-year lease for construction, but it expired in May. It now has a new two-year lease and once the station is built it will get a 10-year community lease with a 10-year right of renewal.
