The Wānaka-Upper Clutha Community Board earlier this week granted approval "in principle" for the first stage of mountainbike trails on Mt Iron Reserve.
Mt Iron was once home to informal mountainbiking trails, made and used by locals for decades, until an agreement was reached between council and Mt Iron and Little Mt Iron owners to purchase nearly 100ha of land to be held as public reserve.
Now, Bike Wānaka has asked that some "stage 1" mountainbike trails be approved ahead of an overall trail plan for the Mt Iron Recreation Reserve so that resource consenting and trail building work could be done before next summer.
In a Queenstown Lakes District Council report it said Bike Wānaka would fund, build and maintain their proposed trails, as well as discourage informal trail building and the rehabilitation of any unauthorised trails in the Mt Iron Reserve.
The report said during consultation on the Mt Iron Reserve management plan last year there was "strong support for a network of mountainbiking trails within the reserve".
Council had since commissioned an ecological report to support the management of the reserve, including the development of an overall trail plan.
Bike Wānaka said the proposed trails would will be suitable for intermediate and advanced riders with an uphill trail to be grade 3 and downhill trails to be grades 4 and 5.
Bike Wānaka committee member Ian Greaves appealed to the board members on Tuesday.
"Now is the opportunity to put a line in the sand and say ‘Let’s get on and start delivering what the community is asking for’," he said.
Members of the public who oppose the restoration of bike trails on the reserve were also in attendance and spoke of their disapproval.
Hidden Hills resident association member Andrew Batholomew said with the addition of mountainbikes on Mt Iron the parking situation on Hidden Hills Dr would only get worse.
"There is no designated parking in Hidden Hills, we are already experiencing parking difficulties above and within the designated turning circle on Hidden Hills Dr.
"Not all users of any approved biking trails on Mt Iron will arrive on two wheels. Parking problems will only get worse if biking access is from Hidden Hills Dr," he said.
Long time Wānaka resident Guy Steven said he had found multiple mountainbike tracks, marked by sticks and rocks, which he believed had been placed by the wider mountainbiking community.
"Allowing stage one of mountainbiking on Mt Iron Reserve would be to reward those breaking the rules and in my view would not be in the spirit of the reserve management plan," he said.
The board voted 6-1 to approve stage one of the plan.
Cr Niki Gladding voted against.
Bike Wānaka will need resource consent to construct the tracks.
That process looks at concerns for both health and safety and the ecological impact of having bikes back on the reserve.
The community board holds the delegation to make decisions on "footpaths, walkways, shared pathways and tracks", the council report said.
