You  may have read the article in today’s ODT about the Frances St Reserve.

Just to reassure you that the  Frances St reserve and playground is not in  jeopardy but a slice at the bottom end where the current access is, is proposed to be swopped with a piece of land to be added to the Hereweka/Harbour Cone block. Yesterday’s decision by Council was to progress the matter to notification stage – this means that the community will have a chance to  have its say  on the matter before a decision is reached.   The Board supported the matter  being progressed to notification stage  yesterday in the interests of a  potential resolution to a very long standing and difficult issue.

For those of you who have  recently arrived in Broad Bay, some background may be helpful:

1. Frances St  Reserve has for some years had its centre section classified  as road reserve with the intention that this would give access to the adjoining  land at some future time.  (this was  where the entramce to the reserve  was located when I came to live in the Bay in 2001). 
2. Some years ago ( within the last ten years or so ) the entrance  was shifted to the bottom end  of the reserve due to safety concerns by local residents – visibility was not good where the entrance was located in the centre of the reserve.   The current location of the entrance appears to have worked well as far as I am aware.
3. Some years  ago a consent was granted for the subdivision of the land  that borders Portobello Rd at the bottom of Grieg St – known locally as “Young’s farm” .  The majority of that land is designated Residential  1 and the remaining portion, Rural.
4. It was acknowledged some years ago that this subdivision has  the potential, once developed, to add families to the school roll and that is still relevant.
5. Meantime back in the  Frances St Reserve a  number of changes  over the years around classification of parts of the reserve,  resulted in a very complex situation.
6. The  top section of the Young farm subdivision is, for all intents and purposes, landlocked –  access over the reserve  being the only practical  option.
7.  However this access has been unable to be progressed due to a very complex set of reserve classification issues and has remained unresolved for many years.
8. The Board learnt late last week that a way forward had been proposed and that this  has the support of the adjoining neighbour and DoC.

The proposal is for a land swop to take place – a 16m strip of land  at the bottom end of the reserve  ( to be used to access the Young’s land ) for a parcel  of land 18x the size, to be added to the Hereweka Harbour Cone Block.   The Board gave its support yesterday  to the matter being progressed to notification stage.  Look out for notification of the consultation in the ODT this month – this will tell you how make a submission on the proposal if you wish to.

Kind regards

Christine Garey

Chairperson
Otago Peninsula Community Board
ph 478 1133
0274 478 876