COUNCIL SEEKS FEEDBACK FROM KĀPITI RESIDENTS

Feedback on the wide range of services and facilities provided by the Kāpiti Coast District Council is once again being sought. The Council’s quarterly residents’ opinion surveys help the Council to know if the services they provide are meeting the needs of Kāpiti locals.

The survey begins on Monday 1 May, with two hundred Kāpiti people being phoned for their views. In addition an online survey (available at www.kapiticoast.govt.nz) will be open from 1 May until Friday 12 May 2017.

RAUMATI ROAD WORKS

Council is advising people to take care around Raumati Beach School next week with term two beginning and improvement works to the area continuing.

“We’re still working on a new shared path, footpath and changed parking layout so people are advised to use the new Kāpiti College performing arts centre carpark when dropping kids off at school and picking them up to limit congestion as much as possible,” Group Manager Infrastructure Services, Sean Mallon, says.

“People should take extra care travelling around the school area and leave a little earlier for drop offs and pick-ups if possible.”

“Pedestrians can still use the existing footpaths on Raumati and Weka roads, but need to be careful when walking past work sites,” he says.

Works are also continuing at the Hillcrest Road/Goldsborough Avenue intersection where a roundabout is being constructed and additional traffic management will be in place next week for the start of the school term.

“Drivers exiting the performing arts carpark might want to consider turning right into Hillcrest Road rather than left to avoid the intersection. The distance to detour to Raumati Road via Matai Road is further, but may not take much longer time-wise given traffic will be slow at the intersection,” Mr Mallon says.

“We’re working as hard as we can to get the improvements finished and appreciate people’s patience with the disruption caused by the works. Once finished, the improvements made will better serve the needs of all Raumati Road users.”

TOGETHER WE’RE MAKING A PLAN FOR THE LONG-TERM FUTURE OF MACLEAN PARK

Over the past six months the Kāpiti Coast District Council has heard from around 1500 members of our community about their Maclean Park story – their memories, how they use the park and what people hope to see in the future. Using the ideas and stories shared with the Council, three different concepts have been developed for Maclean Park which combine a range of possibilities for long-term future development.

Parks and Recreation Manager Alison Law says this is the time for people to have their say.

“This is the fun part where everyone gets to look at what we’ve come up with and let us know which concepts they really like, and which they don’t think should make the final cut. From this we’ll try to balance the community’s wants and needs with what’s achievable long-term,” she says.

“Each concept has a different focus and there are a wide range of possibilities proposed, so there should be something for everyone.”

Ms Law says the Maclean Park development plan wasn’t identified in the FutureKāpiti Long Term Plan 2015-35 so budget would need to be allocated to any recommendations that come out of the review process.

“The focus of this stage is to test what our community wants Maclean Park to be in the future. Based on the costs of putting similar facilities in other park developments around the country we estimate that costs could be anywhere from $4-20 million, yet we haven’t fully investigated how much it would cost to implement these concepts at the Maclean Park site. Any investment could be spread across a period of around 10-20 years, but we’ll have a clearer view on this once we know what our community wants for this park and its future.”

Paraparaumu-Raumati Community Board Chair Jonny Best sees this as a chance to enhance the character of Maclean Park.

“Community, stakeholders and iwi have been really involved in this process so far, so their views are at the heart of these concepts,” he says.

“The aim is to sustain and enhance the character and mana of Maclean Park and make it a park the District can be proud of. This will help shape the future of the park over the next 20 years, so your input now can help prioritise development based on what our community wants.”

· The Maclean Park development plan wasn’t identified in the FutureKāpiti Long Term Plan 2015-35 which means that budget will need to be allocated to any recommendations that come out of this review process.

Information about the three long-term development concepts, and the feedback survey can be found atwww.kapiticoast.govt.nz/maclean-park-refresh.

Copies of the survey are also available at the Paraparaumu Library and the Council’s Rimu Road Service Centre. People have until 25 May to give their feedback, which the Council will use to pull together one draft development plan that will be incorporated into a draft reviewed Management Plan for the park. The Council will be carrying out formal consultation on the draft Management Plan later this year.

HARUATAI PLAYGROUND GRAND OPENING A HIT

On Friday 28 April over 60 people turned up to celebrate the grand opening of the brand new Haruatai Playground in Ōtaki.

Alison Law, Parks and Recreation Manager said the playground is definitely a hit with the locals.

“It was fantastic to see children and their families coming out on the last day of the school holidays to check out the new attractions at the park. This new playground was designed with input from the community and features a super mega swing, the district’s first 'all abilities' swing and lots of other really cool equipment.”

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