Ōmokoroa dog exercise area location update

Both Links View Drive Reserve and Precious Family Reserve are off the table as locations for any prospective dog exercise area in Ōmokoroa.

Western Bay of Plenty District Councillors discussed the matter at length at this week’s Strategy and Policy Committee, before ruling out both existing reserves as potential locations.

The intention was signalled to locate the dog park within the future Active Reserve at the corner of Prole Road and Ōmokoroa Road.

However, the door was left open for other potential locations identified by the community, Community Board, or Council to be considered if they emerge as viable options. This also acknowledges an element of uncertainty in the planning for the future Active Reserve.

“Council has reached this decision after a lot of engagement and consultation. The community has been passionate about this issue, and we have listened,” says Western Bay of Plenty Mayor, James Denyer.

“We would like to support the longstanding aspirations of many in the community for a dog exercise area, but we also had to consider the strong views for and against each location - Links View Drive Reserve and Precious Family Reserve.”

Council’s latest round of community consultation on the location of Ōmokoroa’s proposed dog exercise area ran earlier this year. With 892 individual submissions from the public, 171 of these were against a dog exercise area and the majority were in support of it. However, community feedback on which of the two proposed locations were preferred, Links View Drive Reserve or Precious Family Reserve, were closely contested - 321 and 324 respectively.

Planning for the proposed Active Reserve at the corner of Prole Road and Ōmokoroa Road is estimated to begin within the next 10 years.

Dog exercise areas in the Western Bay

The development of a dog exercise area in Ōmokoroa was part of Council’s commitment to build four such facilities in the District’s main centres through the last Long Term Plan (2021-31).

Up until October 2023 there was just one off-leash fully fenced dog exercise area in the Western Bay of Plenty District at TECT Park. But backed by community support through the Long Term Plan 2021-2031 (68 per cent of people supported more fully fenced dog exercise areas), the decision was made to develop new dog exercise areas in Te Puke, Ōmokoroa, Katikati and Waihī Beach.

Te Puke’s dog exercise area opened last year at Lawrence Oliver Park, construction of Katikati’s dog exercise area at Donegal Reserve is underway, and Waihī Beach is still to be looked at. These are seen as joint projects between Council, community, and external funders so these facilities can become a reality.