Waihī skatepark and pump track vision moves forward

Waihī Community Forum administrator Paula Blackman presenting OceanaGold general manager Justin Johns with the forum’s application for funding.

Support is building for a new recreation hub featuring a skatepark and pump track in Waihī.

Hauraki District Council has committed $150,000 conditional on other funding application results and will meet on April 24 to decide if it would apply for external funding on behalf of the Waihī Community Forum Charitable Trust (WCFCT), which is working on the project alongside the council to provide an outdoor recreation hub at Morgan Park, including a pump track, new skatepark and associated facilities.

While the WCFCT would look after the project, the assets would be vested back to the council and maintenance of those assets would sit with the council once the project was completed.

Morgan Park was already home to a skateboard bowl, flood-lit sports fields, a croquet court and pavilion, a bowling green and tennis and netball courts.

The new development was being driven by the Wāihi Community Forum, which received responses from a survey indicating Morgan Park area was a public favourite for a future recreation hub.

The WCFCT was seeking external funding for the project and the Lions Foundation and Trust Waikato were large funders that it wished to apply to, however, since the assets from the project would be vested back to the Hauraki District Council, the funders required funding applications to come directly from the council and required a resolution to it.

The WCFCT wanted to progress with construction of the pump track as soon as funds were confirmed, and they anticipated a June start date.

It had been recommended the council apply for funding from the Lions Foundation and Trust Waikato directly.

The WCFCT wanted $500,000 from the Lions Foundation to contribute towards pump track construction and developed/detailed design phases of the skatepark and other components, while Trust Waikato required 70 per cent of total funding to be in place before the council could apply for funding.

In a report to the council, project manager Ruth Vivian said the preferred option, for the council to apply for external funding, would give the project a chance of “gaining a larger budget to progress building a recreation hub at Morgan Park, which will benefit the community”.

In August 2023, the project received a significant boost, thanks to $150,000 from OceanaGold Waihi.

The proposal was first tabled in 2022 when the WCFCT sought partnership with the council.

The WCFCT then ran community events to gather feedback on what the community wanted in a skatepark, pump track and recreation space at Morgan Park.

It talked with the community and ran online surveys to get an understanding of community preferences.

Two designs for the hub were received from Velosolutions, a company specialising in the supply of tracks and trails for riding.

Those designs covered a 1450sq m area, with designs for a skatepark.

Rich Landscapes, a specialised landscape architect company, were engaged in late 2023 to use the community feedback to produce a concept design and develop indicative pricing that could be used for external funding applications.

Rich Landscapes completed its own community engagement and spent some time in the district to firm up ideas for the concept design.

The concept design was delivered in late 2023 with different areas forming stages so that certain areas of the recreation hub could progress as funding became available, but allowing for items to be scaled back if adequate funds were not secured.

The main components of the concept design included a pump track, a skatepark, a central area, exercise equipment, playground upgrades, toilets and carpark upgrades.

To date, the WCFCT had fundraised $215,000.

Currently, a large funding application was sitting with the Lotteries Commission and it was anticipated feedback on the outcome of this would be delivered in June.

The WCFCT planned to use the first round of funding to progress with the construction of the pump track and move the concept design into developed design for the skatepark and other components of the recreation hub.