A learner bike park and a new car park for Oamaru Harbour could be approved by the Waitaki District Council this week.
The council will be asked to contribute $130,000 to the $245,000 project and approvethe site north of the railway bridge at Friendly Bay at its December 9 meeting.
Council recreation manager Erik van der Spek said the roughly 720sq m children's bike park, which could include picnic areas, play equipment and street furniture, would add to the infrastructure of the well-used waterfront.
There would also be additional car parking nearby.
The remaining $115,000 needed would be covered by sponsorship and donations.
"This is all part of the overarching type development [of Oamaru Harbour], with a whole lot of different activities and stuff down there,'' he said.
The Oamaru Harbour Development Strategy of 2011 called for a learners' bike park - "where children can learn to ride on roads in a dedicated, safe, controlled environment'' - to be established in the first year of the strategy.
Mr van der Spek said he could not say why the children's bike park had not been completed sooner.
He was not involved in the harbour strategy when it was first implemented and "it's just something that was picked up that wasn't completed''.
The strategy had "evolved'' and ‘‘other things got done and [the bike park] got deferred''.
Councillors brought it to the council's attention recently, he said.
"There has been some encouragement to get this done.''
Centralised parking, established picnic areas, street furniture and plantings were all goals of the harbour strategy.
The Railway Bridge Restoration Trust had expressed interest in "driving'' the project, Mr van der Spek said.
