Council seeking public views on proposed Waterloo Park land exchange
Published on 12 April 2023
We’re proposing to exchange a small area of Waterloo Park with another area of land to provide the community with a better entrance to the Manawatū River Park and we’d like to hear your views on this. If approved the new entrance would be designed and planned over time. The current Ruahine Street and Ayr Place entrances would remain.
We’ll soon be proposing a plan change to turn industrial land along Roxburgh Crescent in Hokowhitu into a residential zone to help meet the growing demand for more homes within the city. We began seeking feedback on this proposal last year and will be holding a full public consultation on it later in 2023.
As part of the planning for this new area we're proposing the creation of a new public access to the Manawatū River from Roxburgh Crescent. We believe the location of this entrance could be improved through a land exchange with a private developer.
The land swap would involve exchanging a small strip of Waterloo Park that is currently acting as a buffer between the industrial activities in Roxburgh Crescent and housing on Tilbury Ave at the southern end. If the whole area becomes a residential zone this buffer will no longer be required. Under our proposal this area of reserve would be exchanged for another parcel of land within Roxburgh’s future new housing area to provide an improved access to the Manawatū River Park.
As this strip of land is within a reserve, we need to seek authorisation from the Minister of Conservation if we can exchange the land. This will be done under the Reserves Act, in a separate process to the main plan change.
The process for doing this involves consulting the community and considering their feedback before deciding whether to apply for the land to be exchanged. Let us know your views by filling a submission form on our website at pncc.govt.nz/WaterlooExchange
You can also email us at submission@pncc.govt.nz or call on 06 356 8199. If you have questions or would like to talk about this in person come along to our drop-in session at the Hokowhitu Scout Hall at 9 Ayr Place from 6pm to 8 pm on Monday the 17 April. Alternatively, drop a written response to us at Palmerston North City Council, 32 Te Marae o Hine, The Square, 4410.