Tauranga Domain is closed to the public after its grounds were damaged and slips made it too dangerous for people - including contractors trying to remove their equipment after the weekend’s cancelled One Love festival.
This comes as a fresh orange heavy rain warning is issued for the district from 11am Thursday to 8am Friday.
The warning is in place for the Bay of Plenty west of about Kawerau, including the Rotorua Lakes District, Western Bay of Plenty District and Tauranga City.
Rain with heavy falls is expected. 70 to 90mm could accumulate with peak intensities of 10 to 20 mm per hour. A heavy rain watch is also in place for the Hunua Ranges and Coromandel Peninsula from noon Thursday to 6am Friday.
The Tauranga Domain field usually used for cricket and rugby is now a large pit of mud scarred by heavy vehicles after the One Love festival was canned.
There is 24-hour security at the domain’s border stopping anyone entering and Western Bay cricketers have been told they can’t use the grounds for the rest of this season. The domain is expected to remain closed until Friday, and at least four days of dry weather are needed before the rest of the equipment can be removed and repairs to the grounds made.
In an email from One Love site co-ordination manager Ranui Samuels sent on Wednesday and obtained by the Bay of Plenty Times, domain users and those involved in setting up the One Love reggae festival were told of slips at the domain following extremely heavy rain.
The email referred to more than 200 millimetres of rain falling in the 48 hours before the call was made to cancel the festival, despite “all attempts” being made to mitigate the situation.
Samuels said that the weather was understood to be a one-in-50-year storm event.
Samuels also referred to “many contractors” which still had gear on site.
”Some have been able to get their gear if it was easily accessible, on the top field, or in the hard road on the site entry. The grounds on the main field have been inaccessible and are closed since the call was made on Saturday.”
Samuels said there were multiple stakeholders including residents, Tauranga City Council, contractors, and insurers, “but ultimately we are weather-dependent on what we can do safely”.
“There [are] also terrain slips on the north side of the field, which only adds to the danger,” Samuels said.
“We are currently using machinery to create a firm loadout area in the domain’s main vehicle entry [area].”
The domain was expected to remain closed until Friday.
Samuels said it could be weeks before some contractors were able to collect their equipment.
“We would suggest that you be prepared to get your equipment next week, but in some cases, you may not be able to collect for a few weeks - we will keep you updated as to what day we will be able to open the site. We have security on-site 24 hours [a day] until the site [is] packed out completely.”
A photo of the domain grounds taken at the weekend shows the field usually used for cricket and rugby is now a large pit of mud scarred by tractors or heavy vehicle tracks.
Tauranga City Council was asked what damage there had been to the domain, how much it was expected to cost at this stage, what the damage was caused by, who was expected to pay to fix it, why there was security manning the site and how much this was costing.
In its response, the council said in a written statement: “We are still working with One Love Festival to assess the damage to Tauranga Domain and develop a remedial plan. All remedial work will be funded by the event organiser, as agreed in their contract.”
One Love promoter Glenn Meikle told the Bay of Plenty Times the decision to close the area followed council advice after slips on the domain’s Takitimu Drive side were discovered.
Meikle acknowledged the damage to the grounds, particularly to the rear of the field where “a lot of trucks” operated.
“There’s definitely some damage - that’s why we are working towards getting everything out that we had to get out.”
The equipment already removed was needed elsewhere and was not able to stay on-site, he said.
However, “there’s definitely learnings as we go along”.
“There could be things done a bit better if we know there’s more than one day’s rain coming.”
Meikle estimated the One Love team needed about four days of dry weather before they could continue with their clean-up and remedial work.
“We don’t want to make any more damage. We have a plan to fix the damage that’s there, but we need dry weather. That’s our main priority.”
As part of the contract to use the space for One Love, there was an agreement the space would be returned to the council as it was received.
Meikle said he believed the cost of the damage was likely to be more than the bond put down to use the space. However, the event was fully covered by insurance, which would help to cover remedial costs.
“Our two claims this year will put the premiums up for every event in New Zealand, but we really want to look after the users of it.”
Meikle said he wanted to do the right thing “because we want to be doing events in this city more, we want to do the best we can to help facilitate that”.
Western Bay of Plenty Cricket representative Paul Wills said he tried to access the grounds on Tuesday but was stopped at the entry and told the grounds were out for the next two months.
“From a cricket point of view, the grounds are out for the rest of the season.”
Wills said the club wanted to be able to play, so the damage to the grounds was “disappointing”.
“We will get through it and massage it as best we can, but the local club at that ground will be gutted. They can’t play their twilight cricket anymore, just like rugby can’t have any pre-season training there,” Wills said.
“We do hope to use the cricket training facility within the next two weeks - that should be possible - but the ground itself won’t be able to be played on.”
Wills said he believed the city did not necessarily have appropriate all-weather facilities appropriate for key events such as One Love, which could have benefited from having concrete grounds rather than grass used by others.
“It is what it is, you can’t change that, but it means we are one ground down - so, pretty much, we have got no grounds for Saturday seniors’ cricket.”
Wills said there were an extra eight teams playing and all grounds in the region were at capacity.
“We need to sit down with the council for a solution, not just a short-term solution, but longer-term. We’ve got a problem right now ... it’s not just the domain, it’s future years also.”
The Bay of Plenty Times tried to contact Tauranga Sports Club.
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