Good Turnout to Coromandel Great Walks Public Meeting   30 Nov 2015

Good Turnout to Coromandel Great Walks Public Meeting

Up to 150 people attended a public meeting at the weekend in Hahei to provide feedback and get an update on our Coromandel Great Walks project.

The meeting was chaired by Bill Stead who is also the chair of the Hahei Ratepayers Association, with presentations by Mayor Glenn Leach, Mercury Bay Community Board Chair Paul Kelly, Peter Johnston (Ngati Hei) and Gemma White, Partnerships Manager for the Department of Conservation Hauraki Area. This was followed by an hour of questions and answers.

"The meeting was really constructive and we continue to hear that the major issue for Hahei is how we manage growing visitor numbers, traffic and car parking problems around Hahei and surrounds," says Mayor Glenn Leach. "In this respect we will continue to work with the Hahei Stakeholders Group on short and long term measures to address this."

"We will also continue to get feedback from the community on the development route as well as providing on-going communication," says the Mayor.

YOU CAN READ OUR HAND-OUT WHICH WAS DISTRIBUTED AT THE PUBLIC MEETING WITH AN UPDATE ON WHERE THE WALKS IS AT BY GOING TO OUR PROJECT PAGE HERE AND GOING TO THE RIGHT-HAND SIDE OF THE PAGE.

YOU CAN VIEW A TV3 NEWS STORY ON THE PUBLIC MEETING HERE.

Over summer our Council will be doing parking occupancy and pedestrian surveys on 2 January, which our past data tells us is the peak day for summer visitor numbers to Hahei. Once collected, the new data will be collated with existing data-gathering tools (DOC's track counter system for Cathedral Cove, and our Council's tube counters for cars going over roads) to help shape planning decisions to manage growing visitor numbers.

To manage traffic and parking this summer, the Park and Ride car park will be running at Pa Rd, Hahei, from 27 December 2015 to 1 February 2016. It will also operate over Waitangi Weekend 2016. Traffic Ambassadors are also being employed to manage traffic flows at the Grange Rd car park at Cathedral Cove and direct people to the Pa Rd Park and Ride.

Meanwhile plans continue for the development of two car parks at Pa Rd and Lees Rd to help alleviate traffic and parking.

There is $438,000 in our 2015-2016 budget for the development of a formed Park and Ride car park at Pa Rd, which will be completed by 2016.

At Lees Rd we now have an agreement with a private landowner for a car park to be built and construction could start in 2016. In October we also met with Lees Rd residents to get feedback on the Walks project and since then a "No Exit" sign is being installed and some minor tree removal works will occur. We hear Lees Rd residents desire that the road be sealed and widened through to the Stella Evered Reserve and there is potential for dust sealing of the whole of Lees Rd to occur in 2016-2017.

In terms of the development of the Great Walk our focus is currently still on Stage 1A from Hahei through to the Purangi Estuary. Preliminary work on a walking route around from the Stella Evered Reserve to Cooks Beach is definitely feasible and could include boardwalks and the possibility of a two-way bridge. It is intended in the New Year to gather and look at the potential range of commercial options.

In December a report on the Great Walks Project will also be going to Council around funding as well as options for a governance structure (as it applies across the district) and terms of reference.

ENDS

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