Park sale plan left off agenda for consultation, mayor unhappy
Invercargill mayor Nobby Clark says he is struggling with the realisation that the city council hasn’t sought out people’s views on his proposal to consider selling part of Donovan Park during a recent consultation process.
The consultation process would inform the development of a master plan for the park’s future.
Clark has suggested selling 37 hectares of the 79ha multi-use park – essentially the farmland component.
He has said this would return $25 million to $30m, which could be used for housing for the elderly and for spending on other city parks and reserves.
Clark has been recovering from heart surgery, but he returned to work last week and raised pointed questions at a council workshop briefing on Tuesday.
At the workshop, council staff confirmed that the option of selling land had been discussed during the consultation meetings – but only if members of the public had raised the topic themselves.
Clark said he thought the council was artificially generating the perception of a need for the farmland.
The council had a total green-space area that was probably higher per capita than any other city of comparable size in the country, he said. It comprised “74 parks, by my recollection”.
He said he struggled to understand how the same parks division that had 18 months ago come to councillors with a list of 16 park areas to be considered as surplus to the city’s needs was so protective of the Donovan farmland.
It was “a bit farcical” for the council not to raise the possibility when presenting ideas for the park’s future, he said.
Clark also said the messaging of his idea had not been good, as people had been asking him why he proposed “getting rid of Donovan Park” when he was talking only about the 37ha area.
That area was separate from the regularly and publicly used areas of the park, such as the sports fields, ponds, community and organic gardens, nursery and horticultural areas.
However, the potential sale area does entail land used for occasional large-area events such as the A&P show and eventing and the land on which Crafty’s Bar and Grill sits.
At the Tuesday workshop, councillor Peter Kett highlighted shortages in Invercargill’s housing market and questioned the idea of tying up valuable land for use just a few days a year for events that could be held elsewhere.
Councillor Darren Ludlow said that when the sale was discussed, people had indicated they could see the rationale for disposing of some of the Donovan land to address the need for elderly housing.
But within the area proposed for sale there was “a desire to protect the strip up the middle” of the park, he said.