A trust is one option for the management of Harbour Cone.
That possible outcome was mentioned by Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull yesterday after a community workshop on Harbour Cone at Portobello.
Speaking after the five-hour workshop, attended by about 60 people, he said he did not wish to elaborate on the proposal put to him because it had yet to be considered by the city council.
Mr Cull, who chaired the council's Harbour Cone steering group, said there was a range of governance options for the property, and he believed ultimately the council should not be the owner of the property.
Establishing a trust would be one possibility; something which could also be considered for other projects with wide community input.
Trusts could attract money the council could not.
Mr Cull also warned against proposals with high long-term running costs.
He said early and ongoing community input into planning for Harbour Cone was a model which could be used elsewhere.
It was much better to get community input at the beginning of the process "rather than coming up with a draft and going out to the community".
This encouraged groups to find "some kind of consensus".
Consultation then had to be ongoing.
Yesterday's meeting was organised by Forest Environments Ltd, which has the contract to develop a management plan for the 328ha Harbour Cone property bought for $2.6 million by the council in early 2008.
Groups looked at land use and food production, recreation and tourism, cultural and heritage aspects, bio-diversity and governance.
The need for ongoing community involvement was a common theme.
Reporting from the recreation and tourism group, John Langley said recreational activities should be "non-motorised" - walking, cycling and horse riding, but members had not resolved conflicts among those activities.
Irene Scurr, of the land-use group, said because the property was a working farm, it should not be called a park.
People could interpret that as a free roaming area where they could do what they liked.
Forest Environments consultant Rhys Millar said two or three meetings of four smaller working groups would be based around yesterday's themes.
A draft would then be developed to go to the Harbour Cone steering group and informally to the community by the end of March.
The plan would then go to the council and perhaps for formal public consultation in May or June next year.
