Completion of the final link in Wānaka’s lakefront shared pathway is one step closer after the Wānaka Upper Clutha Community Board (WUCCB) agreed yesterday (Tuesday July 15) for council staff to progress concept plans.

Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) senior parks advisor Kat Banyard and community services general manager Ken Bailey shared a concept plan for the remaining section of the shared pathway - just 340 metres from the Dinosaur Park to the public toilets at the end of Dungarvon Street - with the board at a workshop yesterday, seeking direction on the next steps.

WUCCB chair Simon Telfer told the Wānaka App he was keen to see the pathway completed so people can use it safely and to showcase Lake Wānaka.

“Let’s look at the lakefront and having that continuous pathway that has always been envisioned rather than four fifths of a pathway,” he said. 

“The most highly trafficked area of that pathway is [currently] a shingle path.”

The board sought progress last year on the pathway ahead of the wider stage four of the Lakefront Development Plan.

The “iterative nature” of progress was deliberate, Simon said, to avoid residents possibly “waiting for decades” for the entire project to be complete.

There is no funding available currently for the shared pathway completion, he said, but the board decided to seek a more detailed design and a more accurate cost estimate, and will then seek funding through council’s Long Term Plan (LTP).

The concept plan presented would provide continuous access along the lakefront with a pedestrian/cycleway promenade, in keeping with the completed pathway at either end.

The cost of the 370 metre pathway concept was estimated at $700,000.

“There’s no bells and whistles on this,” Simon said, but “it’s a big investment”.

“It’s a lot but it’s a much bigger meterage [than the completed sections]... It‘s technically not too difficult but there is quite a bit of concrete.

“You can’t just get the concrete mixer out and plonk it down,” he said, due to different slopes, stormwater pipes, and other features.

Simon said a key discussion point among the board was that the final pathway “doesn’t inhibit overall stage four development”, whether that be a jetty, car parking, or any other development.

“We’re comfortable the pathway won’t inhibit any future development,” he said.

QLDC deputy mayor Quentin Smith recently introduced concept plans for a new jetty to replace the “past its use-by date” existing jetty, in the same section of lakefront.

Read more: Creative designs for ‘long overdue’ new jetty

PHOTO: Wānaka App