Since 2008, Te Kākano Aotearoa Trust has operated its nursery on land owned by the late John and Jill Blennerhassett, next to the Rippon Vineyard and near the Wānaka lakefront.
At the public forum session of last week’s Wānaka-Upper Clutha Community Board meeting, trust manager Loran Verpillot revealed that Te Kākano had been made aware two months ago the property would be going on the market in September.
She said while the trust had a license to occupy the land until 2028, there was no guarantee the new owners would be interested in permitting the nursery to continue in the space.
"We are building our case to convince future landowners that it’s a wonderful thing to have a community nursery on their land but we are aware that they may want us to move."
Ms Verpillot made an appeal for the board’s help to assess potential alternative sites on council-owned land.
Te Kākano would need about 0.4ha and trust numbers had already compiled a list of potential sites, including the land recently bought by the council near the Wastebusters operation, she said.
Board member Barry Bruce asked whether it was important for the nursery to be based in a central location and if Te Kākano would be open to moving to somewhere such as Hāwea, where the domain had a food forest run by a charitable trust.
Ms Verpillot said the trust was open to any and all suggestions from the board and the Queenstown Lakes District Council, but stressed a central location allowed Te Kākano to encourage volunteers to walk or bike to the site.
The trust currently supports 30 "core" volunteers who attend each week and also welcomes school groups and those who cannot volunteer on a regular basis.
Deputy Mayor Quentin Smith said he was "more than supportive" of helping the trust to continue with its work.
"From my perspective, I’m very confident there would be somewhere we could accommodate you.
"I think you’re right to be looking at the area out near Wastebusters, because obviously, the council have just purchased a fairly large piece of land directly adjacent to that."
Board chairman Simon Telfer also welcomed the trust’s efforts, but encouraged them to "drill down" further and come back with a more concrete plan that included a shortlist of specific council sites.
Given the QLDC was in the process of evaluating uses for its land at Ballantyne Rd, he suggested the trust return to both the board and council with ideas soon.
"A little bit of time is of the essence."
