Improvements for Kerikeri Domain
Community groups will get an opportunity this month to provide feedback on improvements planned for Kerikeri Domain.
Community groups will get an opportunity this month to provide feedback on improvements planned for Kerikeri Domain.
The Coalition Government has awarded the Council $3 million of COVID-19 Response and Recovery Funds to deliver works in a reserve management plan for the domain. These works include upgrades to lighting, the skate park, playground, basketball court and landscaping.
The Council has formed a working group to oversee the project and ensure the Council deploys funding within tight timeframes specified by the Government. The working group includes two councillors (Rachel Smith and David Clendon), three community board members (Dave Hookway, Frank Owen and Lane Ayr) and four senior Council staff.
Working group Chair, Lane Ayr, says the group will hold a workshop with about 30 key stakeholders before the second week of October to discuss improvements. Mr Ayr says the Reserve Management Plan was completed following extensive public consultation and it includes many of the ideas the public submitted during that process. “We have no intention of revisiting the consultation process. However, we have identified a number of groups and individuals who have direct interaction with the domain and with whom we wish to engage to more effectively deliver improvements that meet the needs of the community.”
The Reserve Management Plan also includes provisions for a multi-purpose building to replace the fire-damaged Kerikeri Domain pavilion that was removed in February. “Government funding will not be enough to cover everything we would like to do, but there is an opportunity to progress these works in stages as further funding becomes available.”
Work on the 10-year Kerikeri Domain Reserve Management Plan began in 2018 with a public consultation that attracted 151 submissions, including from sports clubs, ratepayer associations, the Ministry of Education, and Northland District Health Board. The resulting plan includes direction on the day-to-day management of the domain.