At Monday’s community board meeting, Central Otago District Council parks and recreation manager Gordon Bailey presented a draft reserve management plan for Omakau and Ophir, which the board agreed to put out for public submissions.
Last July, the board agreed to prepare and notify a draft reserve management plan for the Omakau Recreation Reserve.
When staff began consulting with Omakau recreation reserve users, it was suggested other local reserves be included and the draft plan was expanded to include all council-owned parks and reserves in Omakau and Ophir.
Not all council parks and reserves had to have a management plan.
Last week Mr Bailey said a 1982 decision by the minister responsible for the Reserves Act 1977 extended indefinitely the period for local authorities to complete or prepare management plans for recreation reserves not approved by March 13, 1983. That extension applied to recreation reserves in existence on April 1, 1978, which under the Reserves Act were required to have management plans prepared by March 31, 1983.
In December 2019 the board agreed to building a community hub on the Omakau reserve.
Funding for the hub was included in the 2021-31 long-term plan of up to $1 million using a third each from loan, reserve fund contributions and general reserve.
Under the Reserves Act 1977 public consultation was required to establish the community hub on the reserve. If a reserve management plan was developed for the reserve, consultation would be undertaken on the reserve management plan and would not be required separately for the community hub, Mr Bailey said.
Other reserves covered in the plan were the Wilson St reserve, in Omakau, the Ophir recreation reserve and the former Ophir Ice Rink site.
