I’m confident that every single person reading this post has enjoyed Te Mata Peak firsthand. And I’ll bet you’ve taken most of your out-of-town visitors to the Peak as well. Now, in return, the Park needs your advice … by November 13.
It’s a monumental job ensuring the Park is well maintained, and no easy task balancing the competing notions of how the Park can best serve the community. This role is performed by the volunteer Te Mata Trust Board, and it’s done on a shoestring.
The Hastings, Napier and Regional Councils have signalled in their recent long term plans that they are willing — for the first time — to invest significantly in improvements and operational support for the Park. Funds they had earmarked for the Park’s proposed visitor centre — a project now set aside — are being held in reserve pending the Trust putting forward its own long term plan for improving and managing the park and its amenities.
And here’s where you come in.
The Trust Board has invited public comment and recommendations on how the Park should be managed into the future. What would you like to see done to upgrade and protect the park and optimise its value to the community? Toilets, drinking water, parking, cycling, better/more safely manage vehicular traffic, aesthetic improvements, whatever — this is your chance to speak up.
The easiest way for you to make input is to take the online survey offered here. There’s a two-page Issues Paper you might want to look at first; it provides a useful summary of the planning process and some key points for consideration. And you can find out more at: www.tematapark.co.nz
By year’s end the Trust Board will complete its draft management plan, taking into account the public’s advice. That plan will then be available for comment in December.
The invitation is there … I urge you to take it up. But you must do so by 13 November.
Tom Belford
P.S. You can also email the Park Trust at: info@tematapark.co.nz or write to: Te Mata Park, PO Box 105, Hastings.
I would like to see a native bird sanctuary covering an acre or two with bird hospital/nursery and a public viewing gallery. This area should be vermin-fenced like the Cape project so people can still walk their dogs on the Peak.
The existing tracks are great and should remain shared for bikers, walkers and joggers.
On the Craggy Range side perhaps a gondola from the Waimarama Road side up to a large wine-tasting room showcasing many local wineries attached to an organic GM-free Pacifica-style tapas bar/cafe. Advertise our GM-Free status to the tourists and the world!!!
A couple of luge tracks and downhill MTB track back down to Waimarama Road. The MTB could also hook up with the existing trails. This would be an awesome attraction for the Bay. If Rotorua and Queenstown can do it, I’m sure we can improve on theirs.