A comprehensive landscape plan to develop Oamaru Harbour and its environs for a wide range of uses will go to the Waitaki District Council on Tuesday for endorsement.
The plan was produced by Oamaru landscape architect Dugal Armour and has already been adopted in principle by the council's own harbour and heritage subcommittee as the basis for a more detailed future landscaping and land-use plan.
Due to the high public interest in the development of the Harbourside area, the subcommittee is seeking endorsement by the full council.
Mr Armour's landscape design strategy is the latest in a number of initiatives over the past 10 years to see the harbour and foreshore area of Oamaru protected and developed.
"The objective of this strategy is to allow for current and future needs of the community while preserving and enhancing the unique historic, spiritual and ecological integrity of the area," Mr Armour said.
He envisaged the strategy as a 10- to 15-year project, broken down into stages.
Funding for the development would come from $100,000 a year over three years already in the council's Waitaki community plan.
Mr Armour said Oamaru Harbour and the foreshore, from Cape Wanbrow as far north as Oamaru Creek, and the old freezer building, were unique in terms of heritage, land formation and ecology.
The area was also of huge recreational and economic importance to Oamaru.
"While much of the infrastructure of the harbour has fallen into decline, the rough edge is an essential characteristic in defining the area as a working port with a sense of modesty and realness," he said.
Mr Armour's plan looks at roading, walkways, cycle tracks, seating, rubbish bins, lighting stands, bike stands, bollards, drinking fountains, car parking, planting and explanatory boards and bulletins.
It then applies those features to specific areas, including Friendly Bay, the Friendly Bay carnival ground, Marine Parade, the esplanade, the south end of the harbour, the foreshore, Cape Wanbrow, King George Park, Holmes Wharf and the old railways goods shed.
One element of the plan is the proposal a road be built from Wansbeck St, behind the Oamaru Rowing Club and commercial buildings on the west side of Marine Parade, which would become pedestrian-only.
The existing access to the harbour on Arun St, below King George Park, would be closed and developed as a link to the park, with alternative access to the Whitestone Lodge retirement complex.
That is in contrast with the council's proposal for a new road to link to Marine Parade to provide the main access to the harbour.
Mr Armour's alternative proposal - which was also in past plans for the harbour - would enable Friendly Bay to be developed and linked to the former Friendly Bay carnival land.
