A trust which runs the Russell Museum will get community-board funds to improve a public right-of-way near the museum.
The Bay of Islands-Whangaroa Community Board will give the Russell Centennial Trust Board $3895 towards the $8300 cost of upgrading a legal road called the Walker Passage.
The trust plans toreform the first 20 metres of the grass passage from The Strand to the Tamati Waka Nene Maori Reserve, using concrete aggregate and timber battens. It will also fence the passage, plant shrubs and build a gateway where the passage joins the reserve.
The community grant was one of three totalling $6186 the board allocated at its September meeting. It also gave $2000 to Citizens Advice Bureau Far North towards the $5000 salary costs of employing an office manager and information officers in Kerikeri and $291 to Waimate North resident Graham Clifford to landscape around a bus shelter at the corner of Te Ahu Ahu and Waimate roads.
The board declined a community grant request from Riverview School, which sought $5448 towards $45,000 costs of building a playground. Most board members felt ratepayers shouldn't fund equipment on Ministry of Education land. It also declined Cape Brett Challenge organiser Jan Danilo-Garbacki, who sought $4000 towards the $11,450 costs of staging the run/walk event in April 2013. The board referred the application to the council's economic-development adviser, Gary Gabbitas, to see if it fit the criteria for funding under the council's events strategy.
