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About 60 people headed to Te Muri for an open day to discuss Auckland Council’s plans to develop the regional park last month.
Te Muri sits between Wenderholm and Mahurangi Regional Park. Public access has been restricted to the 382ha park since the land was purchased in 2010, but Council is currently consulting on a draft plan to develop the land for public use.
The draft includes a multi-million dollar proposal to create vehicle access from State Highway One.
At the open day, Council parks and open space specialist Dafydd Pettigrew said if vehicle access was included in the final plan it would likely be over a decade before any work started.
Council had recently met with NZTA, who said the project would have to wait until after the Puhoi to Warkworth motorway was completed in 2022.
Mr Pettigrew said there was pressure to provide vehicle access to the park.
“It’s a big park that’s costing Council a lot of money. We have an obligation to explore ways to get people to use it. But, that includes engaging the community on how they want it to be developed.”
Parks principal ranger for the north Matt Vujcich said it would be at least two years before public access was provided to the park in any form.
“We have a minimum standard we want to achieve before it’s opened,” Mr Vujcich says. “That includes putting in tracks and information signs and clearly marking boundaries.”
Project coordinator Annette Campion stressed that any carpark would likely be well back from the beach. She said the public had been strongly in favour of protecting the values of the park.
Mahurangi Action set up a tent at the open day and had a template submission for the public to sign to support their proposal for the park. The group was opposed to developing vehicle access and was campaigning to build a footbridge to link the park to Wenderholm.
Group secretary Cimino Cole said the feedback from the public had been overwhelmingly positive.
Parks and recreation advisor Neil Olsen said the next park to be developed in Council’s network would be at Te Arai.
Nearly 200 hectares of land had been vested in Council as a condition imposed by the Environment Court.
Mr Olsen said Ngati Manuhiri was also expected to gift land to Council for the park.
“We could have about 800ha of park land there,” Mr Olsen said.
Ngati Manuhiri chief executive Mook Hohneck says iwi are in negotiations with Council but it is too early to release any details.
Hearings on the park management plan will be held in April/May. Two independent commissioners will give recommendations to Council’s Parks, Recreation and Sport Committee in June. Council could choose to ignore the commissioners recommendations, but would have to have strong reasons for doing so.
Info: shapeauckland.co.nz/consultations/te-muri-regional-park/
