Council and KMB co-operate on reserves projects

March 7th, 2015
[by David Armstrong]

Agreement has been reached between Tasman District Council's Reserves staff and Keep Motueka Beautiful on how to develop, maintain and improve Motueka's parks and reserves co-operatively.

For over a decade KMB been instrumental in developing much-used community assets such as the Inlet Walkway Loop, the Kumaras walkway and the Adopt-a-Plot restoration area.

In most of its work it has been supported and funded by Council's Reserves Department staff and budget. With TDC now tightening up on all spending to reduce its debt levels, the number of projects funded - and their ongoing maintenance - is being re-assessed.

KMB committee met yesterday with TDC's Reserves Manager Beryl Wilkes and local Horticulture Officer Kathy Curnow to gain an understanding on how much help Council can give KMB in the near future and how the two entities can help each other.

Beryl said that in the coming financial year her department will be doing a number of relatively small projects, including some pest plant control at Stephens Bay and Tapu Bay, Sports Park, possibly around Goodman Park if floodlights are installed, and some small reserves in new subdivisions.

Keep Motueka Beautiful's largest new project for some years will be the redevelopment of Port Motueka quay and Beach Reserve, but it is looking for some other projects for its volunteers to work on.

They want to make further improvements to the Sanctuary Ponds beside Goodman Park on Old Wharf Road, mainly for ease of access and public awareness.

They also want to close off many of the paths that run between the adopted plots, because path maintenance (weeding, gravelling and spraying) had become too arduous. KMB and TDC have agreed on which paths will be retained and maintained for the Great Taste cyclists and for vehicle access.

The two parties also agreed that with KMB's earlier projects now matured, it was important not to start new projects that cannot be maintained by the volunteer group.

Some discussion was also held about work toward creating one or more urban orchards, in which fruit trees are planted on Council reserves to produce food freely available to the public.

The plan, being actively promoted by KMB member Petra Stephenson, aims to use land behind the community gardens as a primary location, but they are still awaiting results of soil tests for contamination from its history as a dump site.

Other possible sites include some of the small reserves in subdivision, such as the one Sanderlane Drive. The group would plant only heritage varieties of fruit and nut trees, which don't need spraying and do not compete with commercial growers.

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