Intersection upgrade gives Kohatu Park plan a rev-up
The upgrade of an intersection near Kohatu brings plans for a NelsonTasman regional motorsport and adventure park closer to the starting line.
Completed before Christmas, the upgrade of the Motueka Valley Highway-Olivers Rd intersection was a condition of granting consent for the proposed multimillion-dollar Kohatu Park development.
The park is earmarked for a 200-hectare site in a valley just east of the Motueka Valley Highway around the west branch of Stanley Brook, between Kohatu and Tapawera.
Kohatu Park board chairman and trustee Garry Adcock said the intersection upgrade was finished later than anticipated. A heavy machinery ban in force during the drought last summer caused an initial delay. A decision was then made to postpone the sealing work until the end of winter.
The completed upgrade had been valued at $700,000, of which $300,000 was provided by the Tasman District Council. The bulk of the remaining $400,000 worth of work had been donated by people keen to see the park developed, Adcock said.
‘‘There’s definitely a big demand and a lot of support in the community for it,’’ he said. ‘‘To rack up $400,000 of donations, albeit work in kind and materials, shows there’s a lot of support.’’
The upgrade of the intersection, which included some widening, had improved sight lines and made it safer for motorists, he said.
‘‘It’s safer for all traffic movements down Motueka Valley Highway, and particularly vehicles accessing Olivers Rd.
‘‘It’s a good example of how councils and community groups can work together and get a really good outcome.’’
A ‘‘tidy up’’ of the five-kilometre access route to the park site, along with the installation of locked gates on some side roads, was next on the agenda, Adcock said. However, the intersection was the biggest piece of work required to meet the consent conditions.
‘‘By the end of this year, we’d like to have the access fully completed.’’
Since the intersection upgrade, some low-key dirt-based events have been held on part of the park site by off-road enthusiasts and members of the Nelson Car Club, who have built a rally track.
The Kohatu Park trust was seeking acknowledgement from the Nelson City Council of the park as a ‘‘regional facility’’, which would help with fundraising, Adcock said. ‘‘That would get us established a lot quicker.’’
Concepts for the park include a 3.5km car racing track, a rally circuit, a drag racing strip and a karting track, as well as a mountainbiking park, a luge and zorb track, a campground and a picnic area. Adcock said the estimated cost ‘‘for everything’’ was $25 million.
‘‘We can be operational for a lot less. It’s just a matter of time. We’re ticking away at furthering it step by step.’’
Providing a place for clubs and sporting groups in Nelson and Tasman ‘‘who didn’t have a home’’ was the idea that sparked the development proposal. The plan expanded to include an adventure park at one end of the site along with a campground. Its model includes businesses such as a restaurant and adventure tourism operators.
Adcock said the park could also be used for work-based training, teaching skills that were ‘‘in high demand’’, such as gravel extraction, crushing and landscaping as well as the maintenance of gravel roads, while parents could use the site to teach their teenagers to drive in a safe environment.
‘‘To get it fully up and running would be good for the region.’’