Heavy transport bypass
The Mosgiel-Taieri Community Board is holding a public meeting on Tuesday, July 18 from 7pm at Coronation Hall in Gordon Rd, Mosgiel to discuss possible options for a heavy transport bypass.
Board chairman Andrew Simms said the board was pleased to see the council had asked their infrastructure services committee to provide a report on a heavy transport bypass for Mosgiel by October next year.
In light of that the board was keen to engage with the whole Taieri community at an early stage to establish a clear mandate from the community in respect to the need for a heavy traffic bypass or second arterial entry into Mosgiel.
The meeting would include speakers from local schools, rest homes, businesses and transport operators.
The board also hoped Dunedin City Council infrastructure services committee chairman Cr Jim O’Malley would attend to provide a council perspective.
If the state highway was to be shifted from Gordon Rd then the council would be required to re-engineer another road such as Riccarton Rd or Gladfield Rd to state highway standards, Mr Simms said.
Removing unnecessary heavy transport from Gordon Rd was the number one priority for the Mosgiel-Taieri Community Board, Mr Simms said.
Railway enthusiast
During the public forum, brewer and railway enthusiast Richard Emerson spoke to the board in favour of retaining the Taieri Gorge railway line run by Dunedin Railways as an important Dunedin attraction.
Mr Emerson had been working on a Strath Taieri Heritage Park concept that could include running train trips from Middlemarch to Pukerangi.
Board chairman Andrew Simms said while the board was proposing an alternative use for the Taieri Gorge rail corridor by turning it into an extension of the Central Otago Rail Trail, Mr Emerson’s proposal to run train trips from Middlemarch to Pukerangi could co-exist with the board’s suggestion that part of the rail corridor be turned into a cycle lane that would link to the Otago Central Rail Trail.
Request for toilet cleaning
Running out of loo paper has been a problem for the Taieri Historical Museum and Park in Outram.
During the public forum Taieri Historical Society president Neil Gamble spoke to the board about the challenges of keeping the public toilets at the park cleaned and stocked with toilet paper.
Despite the historic museum and the nearby Otago Vintage Machinery Club museum generally only open on Sundays, the park itself was increasingly popular as a place to visit for picnics, walks and networking, Mr Gamble said.
The society requested $2500 from the community board’s discretionary fund towards toilet paper, cleaning and maintenance of the public facilities within the park, which was approved by the board.
Board chairman Andrew Simms said the board would ask for future maintenance to be added to the Dunedin City Council’s schedule of work.
"Given the DCC own the ground I think that is a pretty reasonable request."
Road safety concerns
Local resident Rosanne Dee spoke on behalf of the residents of Murray St, which runs alongside Peter Johnson Park.
She expressed road safety concerns related to people using the street for parking when sports events were happening in the park.
She also asked for improvements to Murray St playground.
Board chairman Andrew Simms said with two preschool facilities in Murray St there were many families with young children on the street.
"It is a long straight road that people go down far too fast and it is a danger."
Possible solutions could be the introduction of some traffic-calming measures such as speed bumps.
"That has been noted by the council for some investigation," Mr Simms said.
Anti-social behaviour
New Zealand Police Otago Coastal area acting commander Inspector Craig Brown provided the board with an update regarding policing in the Taieri.
He also provided some crime statistics for the area and addressed community concerns regarding youth behaviour.
Insp Brown asked the community to continue reporting youth crime and anti-social behaviour, even if there was a belief police were limited to what they could do when it came to dealing with offenders under the age of 14.
Continued reporting assisted the police to develop a response to these problems, Insp Brown said.
He also noted while he often heard calls for Mosgiel to return to a 24-hour manned station, it was at present only unmanned from 5am until 7am and during those times police received less than five calls a month from the Taieri.
