Compromise over Menz Shed location

The Bottle-O bottle store in Featherston will become the Menz Shed.

A compromise for the location of the Featherston Menz Shed has been reached.

The Bottle-O building, donated to the Menz Shed by Trust House, will now be located at the rear of the vacant land in the town's centre, with the back of the building closer to Fox St than Fitzherbert St.

The placement was approved, subject to the final alignment being confirmed by a landscape artist, by South Wairarapa District councillors at a meeting to adopt the council's annual plan yesterday.

The building's position had been a bone of contention between the Menz Shed and the council, who wanted the building to front Fitzherbert St.

The council's position was that the building would improve the frontage of the main street, connect the Menz Shed with youth at the nearby skatepark, and remain a useful retail building if the Menz Shed was wound up.

But Menz Shed members argued a Fox St frontage was a more natural fit for their concept.

The compromise will retain the building's frontage to Fitzherbert St and connection to a future town square development, but the members will be able to access it from Fox St.

The building will likely be moved in August, according to Trust House.

Menz Shed member Richard Burgess, who gave a presentation at the Featherston Community Board meeting on Tuesday night, said they were delighted with the news.

"To access the building from Fox St was a really important factor," he said.

Menz Shed member and councillor Colin Olds said it would be a "more aesthetically pleasing" location.

The society has 20 members, but Mr Olds said they hoped to treble that by the time they moved in.

"We're grateful to council, who tolerated us a little bit.

"A compromise has been made, and it's a lot more comfortable for us."

He said things really needed to move ahead for the town centre.

Meanwhile, the Featherston Ratepayers' and Residents' Association, formed in protest of the council's financial contribution to the Martinborough Town Hall project, wants more consultation on the vacant land.

A member, Sue Fox, said the council hadn't consulted the public properly and one of the group's first actions would be to ask them to get an urban designer to advise on the best use of the land.

"We would ask the community board and the council not to commit us to a town centre not designed by a professional," she told the board on Tuesday night.

The final design and use of it is still to be decided.

At yesterday's meeting, councillors moved a motion to lead further discussion, with the community board, on the use and design of the land incorporating a town square and consideration of the feedback forms submitted by residents.