Council proposes Alamar Crescent improvements

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Concept plans for improvements on Alamar Crescent at Mangawhai Heads are up for discussion within the Mangawhai community.

The concept has three main aims: To gain better use of the parking spaces and so have more carparks available; Provide a safe footpath along the foreshore from Sellars Reserve to the boat ramp (which will be a continuation of the Mangawhai Heads to Village coastal walkway); and improve safety and visibility along Alamar Crescent by removing encroaching vegetation along the road side, painting yellow no-stopping lines and introducing a 30km speed limit.

General Manager Community, Venessa Anich, says the Council has been working with an advisory group made up of the Boating Club, the Community Trust and a local resident.

“We have had community feedback about Alamar Crescent and suggestions about what can be done to make this area safer and more enjoyable for people using it. The proposed design is relatively low cost and we think it will provide a good solution for everyone.

“The feedback from our community survey last year was that there is a strong public desire not to over-develop the area, to retain the simplicity and low-key feel of the area.

“We have written to the neighbours who will be directly affected. We also want further feedback from the wider community and regular users of the area.”

Feedback should be provided by 1 July 2016. Plans are on the Council’s website, in the window of the Boating Club, and also available from the Council’s Mangawhai office at The Hub in Mangawhai Village.

Feedback can be sent to shodge@kaipara.govt.nz or by phone at 0800 727 059.

If there is public support, changes implemented before summer would include a ‘hoggin’ footpath, which is a mix of limestone and cement and is more forgiving around trees than concrete or tarmac, and suits the type of low-key environment being created.

Other changes would be sleepers for the trailer and car parks, the vegetation removed, installing ‘no parking’ lines and changing the speed limit.