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An Invercargill City Council hearings panel seems to have gone its own way regarding the future of Newfield Park and JG Ward Reserve, Bluff.
From July 3 to August 7, the council received public submissions on whether the reserve status of the park should be revoked, partially revoked or remain as it is and whether the JG Ward Reserve and part of 38 Suir St in Bluff should be sold.
Of the 60 submissions received regarding Newfield Park, 33 responders chose the option to do nothing and let the reserve status remain.
Revoke the status of part of the land received 23 responses and revoking the reserve status on all the land received four.
The panel comprising chairwoman councillor Trish Boyle, Cr Andrea de Vries and Bluff Community Board member Jo Eruera have recommended the status of the park be revoked while Cr Lisa Tou-McNaughton opposed the motion.
Of the 22 submitters who responded to whether the JG Ward reserve should be sold, 12 supported the proposal and 10 did not.
Three panel members agreed not to sell the JG Ward Reserve and part of 38 Suir St which Cr Boyle opposed.
Last month the panel convened to listen to oral submissions and reconvened last week to reach a decision.
During the discussion last week regarding Newfield Park, Cr de Vries said it made more sense to fully revoke the land than have part surveyed off.
“There would be some significant costs that I understand that we would have to take on if we were to subdivide the land and then proceed with the revocation.”
Cr Boyle said initially she supported partially revoking the status but had changed her mind to support full revocation.
“The city council has a lot of green spaces and that we can perhaps free up some of those.”
Invercargill property developer Caleb Honiss said, in his submission, partial revocation was not a viable option from a developer’s point of view because of problems with access.
“There would be no proper road access to the remainder of the land and you would not be able to yield enough lots to make the subdivision feasible.”
Cr Tou-McNaughton said while it might be out of the scope of the panel to consider what the land would be used for in the future, if it was not going to be suitable for housing then the reserve status should not be revoked.
“It has to be a piece of land that is going to be attractive to a potential developer that would be the reason for possible revocation and also because we have too much land.”
The community were using the park and the alternative Elizabeth Park was a distance away for residents, she said.
When discussing whether the JG Ward Reserve and part of 38 Suir St should be sold, Ms Eruera said the submitters made some good points about the possible sale.
“I’m thinking that most of the people I’ve talked to in Bluff [whom] I’ve done a little bit of chatting [to] about this are opposed to the sale vehemently.”
The recommendations made by the panel will be presented to the council’s community and regulatory committee which will then make recommendations to a council meeting.