OY2 Belmont Regional Park 29 April 07
Background to the Gate Fee
We brought in a per-car gate fee for Sunday's OY at Belmont Regional Park.
We may have to continue it, we may not - you might be able to influence it:-))
Manning the Gate
The first reason was that we had to man the gate anyway. Greater Wellington has
had problems with unauthorised vehicle access to its parks including BRP, and that
was a requirement. This isn't the only orienteering venue we have to do this.
We thought we would pay a non-orienteer to do this boring duty, and charge a gold
coin to pay the person. Then we heard about the park fees.
Park Fees
Greater Wellington has had a policy to charge fees for events since 1992. The
individual rangers have had discretion, and we haven't had to pay before in Belmont,
East Harbour, Tunnel Gully, Kaitoke or Akatarawa Forest. We have had to pay at Battle
Hill and QE Park. Clearly the variability is not sensible - we'll come later to the
fees themselves.
So GW has tightened up, and is charging a $50 application fee and $3 a person.
(Perhaps worse than that is that an unpaid volunteer who used to seek permission
by phone or email has to lodge a bunch of paperwork and sign a contract. The first
contract we did arrived 3 days before the event and contained 43 clauses or special
provisions - nearly as many as the number of people on the event:-))
Minimising Traffic
Anyway, we had to find $3 a person. At the same time we were thinking about parking
at the event centre. We have to maintain clear passage for farm vehicles of course,
but we also had to provide for Transpower heavy vehicles - they are maintaining the
power lines and have huge trucks with cable drums. The usual "park where you can"
arrangements weren't going to work. And finally we thought about the impact on the
poor old residents of Hill Road, Belmont.
What it suggested was that fewer cars would be better. We decided to raise the GW fees
on a per-car basis. The amount of $5 was decided for convenience. It raised about
$450 and the fees come to about $600. We may do it at other venues too - we should
be concerned about our carbon footprint and carpool where possible. It's more fun too.
The Park Fee Campaign
Now we come to the fees themselves. Your committee feels they are out of order. It has
made a submission along the following lines:
- We are grateful users of regional parks, but we don't need any facilities,
and exclusive use is not required.
- We think the reason the region has parks is to encourage recreation and appreciation
of the outdoors. Running events helps this objective, and charging a fee to non-profit
groups is a DIScouragement.
- The fee policy is out of line with local bodies on the one hand, and central
government on the other, as neither charge non-profit groups.
There will be elections for the regional council later this year. If the submission
doesn't bear fruit, we may wish to see what the candidates feel about the matter.
Mike Sheridan (who plumbed the intricacies of the DOC legislation when running the
rogaine in Tararua Forest Park) is managing our campaign. Stay tuned.
Written by in his capacity as OHV Programme Coordinator, and installed on 30 Apr 07.