The community’s priority for foreshore parking in the development of Wanaka’s lakefront has been endorsed by the Wanaka Community Board (WCB) at the expense of the existing Millennium Path.

At last Thursday’s WCB meeting (November 5), elected members unanimously approved Queenstown Lakes District Council’s (QLDC) recommended concept design for stage two of Wanaka’s Lakefront Development Plan (LDP).

The approved stage two option, with a budget of $2.8M, will establish over 120 parking spaces, a 4m wide promenade, a relocated, new Millennium Path, feature gardens and the retention of trees and open spaces.

Community input

In August this year the community was asked to choose between two options for the stage two development: keep the existing Millennium Path in situ but provide no additional car parking to replace the 120 car parks removed from the foreshore; or replace the existing Millennium Path with right-angled car parks on the lakeside of Ardmore Street opposite Pembroke Park and recreate a new Millennium Path beside a new promenade.

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In May 2019, over 4,400 people signed a petition to not remove the Millennium Path, but instead keep it in its “open and natural space as it is an integral part of Wanaka history”. 

A third option to permit both the existing Millennium Path to be retained and additional car parking to be provided along Ardmore Street wasn’t available. 

Parking

With the planned removal of all car parking along the foreshore from McDougall Street to Dunmore Street, replacement parking near the foreshore has long been identified as a controversial issue. 

In April last year the WCB postponed stage two of the LDP to resolve parking issues and instead pressed on with stage three (between the Dinosaur Park and the marina).

Parking on most of this stretch of the foreshore has been banned since 2018. 

Last week elected members were asked their opinions about the recommended design (option one) which was preferred by a slim majority (52 per cent) of the 176 respondents to the council’s survey on stage two development.

Councillor Quentin Smith said he was pleased council was making headway on stage two, particularly the “important” parking issue. Designing wide “gaps” between sections of parked cars along Ardmore Street would create the necessary “view shafts” to the lake, he said.

WCB member Ed Taylor concurred, saying it was crucial that massed vehicles previously parked on the foreshore which blocked lakeviews, the “great white wall of Wanaka”, wasn’t simply relocated to Ardmore Street.

“Getting the campervans off [the foreshore] is going to be positive,” he said, and creating “a big viewshaft is worth losing a view carparks [for]”.

Specific parking allocated for campervans was discussed, including parking along McDougall Street and under the trees between Stoney Creek and the Mt Aspiring Road carpark, but council staff said they would welcome further guidance on campervan parking and signage.

Millennium Path

With regard to the 650m tiled Millennium Path, which was created by Wanaka locals in 2000 to celebrate the new millennium, comments were made about the diversity of a proposed Millennium Path community working group and its impact on the project’s overall timeframe. 

The WCB approved the creation of the working group, comprising amongst others the WCB chair Barry Bruce, QLDC parks officer Diana Manson, the original Millennium Path project coordinator Liz Hall, Upper Clutha Historical Records Society member Graham Dickson, Mount Aspiring College history teacher Ed Waddington and an (unnamed) mana whenua representative.

The existing 650m Millennium tiled path beside Ardmore Street attracts a lot of attention.

The aim of this working group is to honour and protect the original legacy of the path and its content, and it would be responsible for reviewing the content of the original tiles and identifying any “notable historical” omissions, including significant Māori history.

Councillor Niamh Shaw said involvement in this group from “as wide a range of people as we can” was desired. She suggested it could include representatives from a younger generation and noted that the majority (92 per cent) of those who responded to the August public survey were 30 years or older.

Referring to the original Millennium Path project which seemed to involve most of Wanaka’s residents, Niamh said: “It would be really nice if we could recapture that spirit and support.” 

Concerns raised that progress on the final detailed design and start of physical works might potentially be delayed by the Millennium Path working party were allayed by the council’s parks and open spaces planning manager Briana Pringle, who said the working party would operate independently.

The WCB has given the council the green light to proceed with its detailed design and implementation and, Brianna said, staff were expecting to bring the final detailed design plans to December’s WCB meeting for sign off and for construction work to begin on stage two early next year.

PHOTOS: Wanaka App