Ideas as diverse as an equine centre, sports fields, a shared sport/recreation club rooms and a venue for a summer camp through to a site for a Tiny House space, a market/car boot sale space, a green waste composting hub and a place to grow heritage seeds have been suggested by Hāwea residents as uses for the Hāwea Domain.

Just before lockdown (March 18) a community drop-in session was hosted by the Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) at the Hāwea Flat hall to provide informal feedback and potential uses of the domain.

Locals from a variety of clubs and groups attended including the Hāwea-Wanaka Pony Club, the Hāwea Community Food Forest, and Upper Clutha Tiny House Trust.

The feedback contributed to the draft Hāwea Domain Reserve Management Plan (RMP). Formal public submissions on the RMP were invited until May 17; 12 submissions were received.

The submissions included further requests for the domain to be used for specific activities, such as a dog agility course, tennis courts, garden lots for homegrown vegetables and horse paddocks for lease.

A number of submissions agreed that the 40ha domain, located towards the Gladstone Road end of Domain Road, had been underutilised and needed to be the centre of a lot more general community activity, including as an outdoor venue for cultural, sports and music events and community celebrations.

The annual Hāwea Picnic Races always attract a big summer turnout to the domain’s racetrack.

Warren Hewson said in his personal submission he was keen to continue and expand the Food Forest and current equestrian activities, including the Pony Club and the annual Picnic Races, but added the success of last year’s Otago Goldfields Cavalcade showed the Domain could be also be a venue for large community events.

The domain hosted the final stage of the Cavalcade with a huge, well supported, gala event and hoedown which injected almost $50,000 into the local community groups.

“This was only possible because of the large area of land available, and I can see there could be other opportunities for similar events in the future,” Warren said in his submission.

He said the development of infrastructure, such as a potable water system and public toilets, would serve well the establishment of clubrooms which could be used by a variety of community sports and recreation groups.

“On a personal level I think it is imperative to retain the Hāwea Domain as a community owned and managed asset and, in fact, I see it as paramount that it is never sold,” Warren said.

The New Zealand Motorhome and Caravan Association submitted that the RMP should allow for responsible camping in certified self-contained vehicles, e.g. freedom camping or low-cost overnight parking. 

The Hāwea-Wanaka Pony Club currently leases the domain land inside the race track and submitted a request to continue to occupy this area as well as have access to other parts of the domain for events and for clubrooms.

Hāwea Domain Board chair Geoff Hewson said apart from the pony club lease and the annual use of the racetrack at the Hāwea picnic races the domain had largely been turned over to the QLDC to lease for grazing for years.

“It’s 100 acres of land which should be brought back into use by the community,” he said.

The purpose of the eight member board, which was re-established mid last year and is applying for charity status, is to act as a liaison between the community and the council regarding the domain. Geoff said the board chose not to make a public submission to the RMP as it wanted “the people to have their say”.

PHOTOS: Wanaka App