The North Shore City Council are in the final stages of planning a new 40ha reserve in the Paremoremo area.

Known as Sanders Reserve this property is designed primarily to be a mountainbike and off road cycling area.

The council are urgently seeking submissions on their plan (detailed below) and you are invited to join in the proccess.

Its a great plan and the planning team at North Shore City should be congratulated. However, before this becomes a reality we need to show the council that they are on the right path and that there is a substantial body of support for the proposal, especially from North Shore residents.

Read on, follow the instructions and lets make this happen!

1 Read the Executive Summary for the plan below
2 Read the full plan available from the quick link if you want
3 Download the submission form available from the Quick Link
4 Fill it out indicating your support
5 Get it to North Shore City Council by MONDAY MARCH 20


Executive Summary

The purpose of this Reserve Management Plan is to identify Council¡¦s objectives and policies for the management of Sanders Reserve, Paremoremo.

The plan is at a draft stage and you are invited to send comments on the draft to Council identifying any improvements or alterations to the plan you wish to see. This is part of a two stage process:
I. Through the management plan Council will identify in general terms how it wants the reserve to be managed, protected and developed.
II. After that Council will prepare a development plan identifying in detail what will be done and where.

Once the development plan is completed Council will undertake any physical works required.

Council¡¦s vision for this reserve is:
That the park provides a premier recreational (non-motorised) cycling facility catering for a range of abilities as well as opportunities for water recreation, camping and informal recreation, while also providing for ecological restoration in designated areas and possible use for casual equestrian activities.

The outcomes Council is seeking from this management plan are:
1. Creation and maintenance of a significant recreational cycling facility catering for a range of abilities on both an organised and informal basis.
2. Development of the reserve in a generally open, grassed manner with designated ecological restoration areas, camping areas and water access points for such uses as canoeing.
3. Provision for the establishment of appropriate services and facilities to support the anticipated use of the site, such as children¡¦s play area, custodian housing, toilets, hire equipment, parking, site access, emergency and maintenance vehicle access and facilities for refreshment.
4. Provision for the establishment of leases or licences to provide services where this is seen as appropriate.
5. Use of the site for other casual activities, such as casual equestrian use, where these can be accommodated by the other outcomes listed above.

The management plan identifies a number of actions for improving the park. Refer to Part 4 of the full document for a review of issues and possible improvements. Not all of the proposed improvements will be funded by Council, and the timing and extent of Council funding will be determined through the Annual Plan process.

The plan also identifies an opportunity to extend an access track along the Upper Waitemata Harbour foreshore and Lucas Creek to Albany Village. This requires significant further investigation.

The site was purchased by Council on 1st July 2002 and is managed by the Council¡¦s Parks Department. The 41 hectare site is comprised of five titles of which one is held for Local Purpose (Esplanade) Reserve. Once this plan is complete it is intended to classify the other four titles as Recreation Reserve under the Reserves Act 1977.

To date the following steps have been taken in preparing this plan:
„] In June 2005 the Council¡¦s Parks Department notified its intention to prepare the Management Plan and people were invited to input relevant information. No responses were received.
„] At its meeting of 1st December 2005 the Albany Community Board resolved that the draft Reserve Management Plan for Sanders Reserve, as amended, be released for public submission.

The draft plan is now open for public submissions. Once these are received the Albany Community Board will consider the comments and make any recommendations on changes to the plan. The plan will then be put forward for adoption by Council¡¦s Community Services and Parks Committee. After this the land will be reserved and classified under the Reserves Act 1977 by Council resolution.

Full plan here...

Making A Submission

Its Easy!

Simply Download the standard Council plan submission in PDF form.

Fill it out indicating that you are making a submission on the Sanders Reserve Management Plan as a private individual (the club is making a collective submission as well).

Answer the questions and add as much or as little detail as you wish. Additional pages may be added to the main form.

You are encouraged to attend the Albany Community Board meeting where this decision will be made and to speak to your submission if you desire. The Club will be making a verbal presentation and your support on the night will be most welcome, even if you do not wish to speak.

The form can be faxed back to North Shore City on the fax number on the form.

Please do this straight away - Mountainbiking in Auckland needs your assistance.

Get the Submission form here...

Thanks

It is not often that we get the chance to excercise our democratic right and influence public policy for the good of Mountainbiking.

Having been involved with the access and track building issues at Hunua for a few years, I can assure you that access to quality riding areas around the fringes of Auckland will be one of the most important issues facing us over the next few years.

The chance to secure this area is just too good to miss!

Sanders Reserve will never be an 'epic' adventure style MTB area. However it will be a fantastic offroad cycling area for families, recreational riders and people just wanting to get away for a while. It will offer MTB, swimming and watersport, all on our doorstep. It will be developed by the council (with our input and assistance) and it will last for generations.

geoff@aucklandmtb.co.nz

cool, best of luck!

Sweet. Looks hilly!!!

Stun wrote: Sweet. Looks hilly!!!

About as hilly as your average billiard table, wouldn't be more than 20m vertical variation over the whole area. Should still have some potential and from the executive summary above, it would appear that the NS council are trying to make this area pretty family friendly so not really a problem.

This is epic news. Hiwind is right that the area is "undulating", but it probably has a max of 40m vertical variation (we walk our dog here sometimes). Also mentioned is a track from the reserve all the way to Albany which is probably about 8km. Although it will be predominantly family style tracks, its all good for the sport - technical root infested tracks are just 10 minutes drive away in Riverhead anyway.

My submission is on its way in 10 minutes.

Any idea when the meeting is? Im there.

Props to the council putting effort and resources into providing MTB facilities.

A great opportunity for Aucklanders to show their support.

Put in a submission to show you care!!!

jimmi wrote: Any idea when the meeting is? Im there.

http://www.nscc.govt.nz/your_council/me ... banycb.htm

or email geoff.

jimmi wrote: ... but it probably has a max of 40m vertical variation...

Stunningly accurate elevation assesment Jimmi! Max elevation is 43m, min elevation is 0m (sea level)

hiwind wrote:

jimmi wrote: ... but it probably has a max of 40m vertical variation...

Stunningly accurate elevation assesment Jimmi! Max elevation is 43m, min elevation is 0m (sea level)

and there is a labour base very close......

james_giant wrote:

jimmi wrote: Any idea when the meeting is? Im there.

http://www.nscc.govt.nz/your_council/me ... banycb.htm

or email geoff.

Yeah - Ive emailed Geoff so standby for the meeting time. I figure it wont be for a while as they will be sifting through the 12,354 submissions from mountainbikers!

hiwind wrote:

jimmi wrote: ... but it probably has a max of 40m vertical variation...

Stunningly accurate elevation assesment Jimmi! Max elevation is 43m, min elevation is 0m (sea level)

And I can see my house on that map!

jimmi wrote:

hiwind wrote:

jimmi wrote: ... but it probably has a max of 40m vertical variation...

Stunningly accurate elevation assesment Jimmi! Max elevation is 43m, min elevation is 0m (sea level)

And I can see my house on that map!

The prison?

hiwind wrote:

jimmi wrote: ... but it probably has a max of 40m vertical variation...

Stunningly accurate elevation assesment Jimmi! Max elevation is 43m, min elevation is 0m (sea level)

Should see a round of the nats DH here then

My submission has just gone in.
So close to work too