More than 30 people attended a public meeting at Taieri Mouth last week, to discuss options for the park's trees which were planted by men of the Otago-Southland War Amputees Association.
Clutha District Council district assets manager Jules Witt said the general consensus was that the trees were in need of attention and were a potential safety hazard - the key issues were what was to be done with the trees and what would be replanted in the area.
Taieri Mouth Amenities Society president Jeannine Basquin said community members had different ideas about what they wanted, with some suggesting only native trees be planted in the area, while others wanted pines.
''We can't cut them all down at once - there would be no shelter and we would be back to where we started.''
The community had developed the park over the years, building on the hard work of the amputees, she said.
Livingstonia Park backs on to Taieri Beach and is sheltered from the wind by a row of about 70 pine trees. It features a playground, a wide playing field, picnic tables and chairs, as well as an information kiosk on its history and the role of the Otago-Southland War Amputees Association in creating the park.
Last year, the council felled one of the pine trees at the southern end of the park following a request from the Taieri Mouth Amenities Society, as the tree was dying.
Before the tree was felled, an independent arborist assessed the condition of all the trees and found that most of them were showing signs of senescence - a normal part of the ageing process for trees visible in a decline in the upper canopy and a thinning of the crown.
This was expected to lead to the ''inevitable loss'' of more trees due to wind and storm damage, and this would have a snowball effect, as the removal of trees at each end would put further pressure on the ability of the remaining trees to survive.
Mr Witt said the council was looking at three options - maintaining existing trees until they had to be removed (cost of about $2000 per year); felling the trees with the firewood available for the local community, and brushwood chipped and mulch spread over the dunes to assist with the replanting of a similar species (costing about $10,000); and felling the trees for firewood for the local community and not replanting to reduce ongoing maintenance costs.
He said it was important to note that the council had not yet made any decisions or identified a preferred option.
Submissions on the Livingstonia Park trees close at 4pm on October 3.
