Memorial grove protection sought
The proposed residential development of the former Manawatu Teachers’ College site threatens to uproot a grove of memorial trees unless an agreement can be reached.
Students in their late teens or early twenties who died while studying in Palmerston North were honoured with a native tree, marked with a plaque, in ceremonies attended by grieving friends and families.
Former registrar Howard Wills often attended, and has plotted the location of the plantings and historic sites around the campus, particularly those clustered in the memorial grove behind the tennis courts.
‘‘There were some absolutely tragic cases.‘‘
Massey University and several submitters on plans to rezone the former Hokowhitu campus from institutional to residential have asked for the grove to be preserved.
Submitter Guy Broadley said the teachers’ college was ‘‘like a meteor, showering a short burst of light on Palmerston North’’, attracting students from throughout the North Island.
He recalled the shock and sadness he felt when visiting the grove and remembering a vivacious and popular student he had previously taught at school who had been killed in a crash at the Bunnythorpe railway crossing.
He said the trees and other aspects of the site’s history should be preserved, and the grove retained.
Massey University sold the whole site to Wallace Development in 2016.
Spokesman James Gardiner said the university had started a process to find a way to protect the grove, possibly through an arrangement with the neighbouring Manawatu Golf Club, but ran out of time to complete consultation without jeopardising the sale.
‘‘It would have taken months of submissions, so it has gone through as part of the sale.’’
Assistant vice-chancellor for operations Stuart Morriss said in a submission on the rezoning that the site was highly significant to past and current staff and students, and to the university.
‘‘The full weight of the council’s protective powers should be used to enable retention and preservation of this site.’’
Wallace Development development manager Tim Fitz-herbert said the company was open to finding a way to preserve at least the best of the trees, whether they became protected trees on private land, or as a reserve.
The city council has agreed to do further work on ways to protect the trees.
Earlier advice from the council’s parks and reserves team that the new subdivision did not need to provide further reserve space, surrounded as it was by the Hokowhitu Lagoon, golf course and riverside, would be revisited.
Submissions on the change to the District Plan close on Friday.