Featherston Town Square Development About to Begin
20 November 2015
In May 2014 the South Wairarapa District Council (SWDC) sent 1200 forms to urban and rural residents asking for their feedback regarding the use of the recently acquired land on Main Street in Featherston. Of the 159 respondents, 74 were in support of developing at least part of this area into a town square and provided ideas for the placement of the MENZ shed.
The SWDC acknowledges that during the feedback stage a group of the community made it clear that they would prefer this land be developed as commercial area instead. Mayor, Adrienne Staples praises this group and their passion for growing Featherston.
“Unfortunately using this space as a commercial development was just not viable. We would need to lease this space out at $300 per square meter, however based on existing commercial pricing the space would only return approximately $100 to $150 per square meter , so this option was not practical or sustainable.
After reviewing all responses, SWDC created a working group (made up of councillors and community board members) to develop the design of the town square.
A landscape designer was retained to discuss design concepts with the Featherston Town Centre working group and drawings were developed following these discussions, these concept drawings can be seen on the SWDC website.
Mayor Adrienne Staples says they have experienced some third party delays with the town square project which has slowed its momentum.
“I’ll be the first to say that we did not clearly communicate these delays; we should have kept the Featherston community better updated. I can understand because of this there is some confusion in the community about whether the town square project is going ahead or not. It absolutely is and we have some exciting milestones coming up.
Earthworks will be starting before Christmas 2015 and the new town square is planned to be completed late February 2016. The new town square will be a lovely space for Featherston residents to enjoy.
We are passionate about enhancing and growing the Featherston area. We’ll be working very hard to make sure in the future we are better at communicating project updates to residents.”
For more information on the Featherston town square project contact themayor@swdc.govt.nz or call Adrienne Staples on 06 306 9611 or 027 446 8060.
Background:
South Wairarapa District Council’s mission is to work with and for the South Wairarapa communities to affect the best possible social and economic outcomes which are based on valuing and respecting the people, the land and the resources.
The South Wairarapa District Council is one of three local authorities operating in the Wairarapa. South Wairarapa follows the coastline from the western end of Palliser Bay to Honeycomb Rock east of Martinborough. The western boundary follows the main divide of the Rimutaka and Tararua Ranges to Mount Hector, from which the boundary runs south east across the Wairarapa plain to the coast.
