Residents turned out last night to oppose a Wellington City Council plan to develop what it calls a low-cost campground.
Local residents at the meeting. Photo: RNZ/Shannon Gillies
The authority is proposing a campground on part of Happy Valley Park, close to a school and kindergarten in Owhiro Bay, in the city's southern suburbs.
It wants 33 sites for campervans, cars and tents to meet tourist demand - with a construction price tag of $350,000.
In front of 30 residents, a council manager, Amber Bill, attempted to allay local fears that the park would become a freedom camping site.
She said the area was chosen because of its features and popularity with campers.
"This is a very nice community. It's a great distance from the city. It's on the way to the beautiful south coast. It's an area which has amenity," she said.
Owhiro Bay Residents Association secretary Tracy Street said the community was concerned about council's intentions.
She said the community doesn't know how council will manage the increase in traffic created by the campground, its environmental impact, and there was a concern about how council could grab more land in future if it wants to expand the campground.
Ms Street said the bigger picture needs to be looked at.
"Freedom camping is here and it's not going to go away."
She said the target market of low cost campsites is the freedom camping community and in an uncontrolled environment some of its members have been proven to cause damage.
The project is being driven by council, not the community, she said.
"None of us would have put our hands up and said, 'yeah we want campgrounds in our neighbourhood'."
Owhiro Bay School's Board of Trustees chair, Peter Noble, said the community feels they have done enough for council and the city by already having another campsite on a nearby reserve. "We've already got it in our backyard. We don't need more of it."
He said there are also concerns about having transient people unknown to the local community being so close to a school and kindergarten. "We're concerned about kids who get options to play in the park.
"The fact that council haven't come and said they're going to be actively managing it. They've talked about sporadic monitoring [which] really does seem to miss the community feel - that if we're actually are going to have this, we really need someone on site 24 seven."
The council said the concerns about the proximity of the campground to the school and kindergarten will be allayed through how the site is constructed if it gets approval.
Mr Noble said the community already feels like council will go ahead with constriction of the campground.
Public consultation on the campsite closes on Monday.
If approved, construction of the campground should start in December 2016.