Last month the Central Otago District Council (CODC) granted the Cromwell Mountain Bike Club resource consent to create a trail park near Ripponvale Rd.
Approval for the Shannon Farm Bike Park comes after years of dreaming and planning by passionate members of the Cromwell mountainbiking community.
A network of trails will be created on 65.6ha of land near new lifestyle subdivision Shannon Farm.
Consent application for the park stated the trails — designed in accordance with the New Zealand Cycle Trail Design Guide with "extensive involvement" from Elevate Trail Building — would consist of a mix of trails to suit a variety of rider abilities, as well as walkers.
The design also takes into account the unique Central Otago landscape, with care taken to minimise visual impact, it stated.
The park would not be run as a commercial enterprise, but freely available to the public to use — even if they were not a member of the mountainbike club.
Cromwell MTBC president Alex Bartrum said the park would fill a gap that was not met by other trails in the area.
"We are literally surrounded by mountains and no mountainbike trails," he said.
"Our goal is to provide world-class MTB trails, within riding distance of town.
"At the moment, riders need to load up the car to go to Queenstown, Wanaka or Alex."
The club worked alongside Shannon Farm landowners and developers NZ Cherry Corp (Leyser) LP, securing a legal agreement that the recreation area would remain in place even if the developers were to sell, he said.
An underpass linking the bike park and subdivision to the Cromwell township would be built by the developers under State Highway 6.
"So, no worry about kids crossing roads," Mr Bartrum said.
With the compliance hurdles behind it the club was preparing to dig in for the next one — fundraising.
Elevate Trails was creating the full concept design and quote which would be used to approach funders and trail builders.
One of the ways people could support the park’s development was to get involved with the club and its fundraising efforts, Mr Bartrum said.
He hoped major work on the Shannon Farm Bike Park would begin next year. However club members would probably pick up their shovels before then to start building by hand.
That is nothing new for the passionate riders who, for more than a year, have committed their Wednesday nights to shifting dirt to create trails near Bannockburn Inlet.
Stage one of those trails is set to officially open once signage is in place.
Mr Bartrum was grateful to organisations and individuals who had already stepped up to support the club which formed in 2019.
