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“They don’t know how much it means to us.”
These are the words of mum Sarah Arnesen in response to a proposed plan to construct a new stadium on the land that currently includes the Tauranga Domain.
Sarah and husband Luke Arnesen described themselves as “Tauranga, born and bred”. Thecouple and their daughter Georgia live “just across the road” from the proposed stadium site which is already home to community sporting clubs and rugby grounds.
The Arnesens were one family in a crowd of 300-400 people who met on the domain’s all-weather athletics track today to protest against a proposed boutique $170-$180 million stadium as part of Tauranga City Council’s Active Reserves Masterplans.
“I walk the dog here every day,” Luke told the Bay of Plenty Times.
“These are native trees and they are hundreds of years old. There should be no way in hell they can be chopped down. It’s a historical place.”
Luke said he has been playing rugby on the domain’s fields since he was five years old. Now the Arnesens’ daughter Georgia takes part in the athletics club which shares the facilities at the domain.
Sarah (left) and Luke Arnesen with their daughter Georgia. Photo / Maryana Garcia
Construction of the proposed stadium would force the relocation of the athletics track to Baypark Stadium.
Implementing the council’s masterplans would also mean relocating the Tauranga Croquet Club and Tauranga Lawn Bowling Club from the domain and temporarily moving the Bay of Plenty Speedway Association’s pit area in Baypark to allow extra space for community sports.
Sarah said she and her family were “shocked” to find out about the masterplans through the athletics club.
“I’d like [the council] to reevaluate their plans and talk to the people of Tauranga,” Luke said.
Tauranga mum Kelly Bek and her daughter Jessica, 8, said the athletics field at the Tauranga Domain was "world class". Photo / Maryana Garcia
Tauranga mum Kelly Bek said her daughter Jessica, 8, runs on the Tauranga Domain track every week as part of the Bellevue Athletic Club.
“I absolutely want the track to stay here,” Bek said.
“This is an amazing community space. It’s a world-class facility.”
Bek said she heard young athletes say often how nice it was to come to Tauranga “to be able to run on a proper track”.
“Once this is gone, it’s gone. These are the golden tickets in the middle of your city that once you lose, you lose forever.”
Bek said, in her view, while there was a need for more housing intensification in the area, green spaces needed to be protected too.
She also opposed the relocation of the athletics track to Baypark Stadium.
“I don’t want my daughter running next to a sewage plant, and it’s much harder to get there.”
Tauranga Lawn Tennis Club president Philip Brown (centre) at the Tauranga Domain protest on Sunday. Photo / Maryana Garcia
Sunday’s protest was organised by Alliance Against the Tauranga City Council Active Reserve Masterplan, a group of several community entities including Tauranga Millenium Track Trust, Bay of Plenty Speedway Association, Tauranga Croquet Club, and Tauranga Lawn Tennis Club.
Most protesters gathered in the domain’s grandstand where they listened to Alliance members presenting their views.
Tauranga Lawn Tennis Club president Philip Brown began the protest by encouraging attendees to look around them.
“We all share this area and it works pretty good,” Brown said.
He said “to commercialise” the space by building a “stadium which would be used very occasionally” would destroy the green area.
Croquet club president Gretchen Benvie said the protest was fighting to save the Tauranga Domain “as it is today”.
“Lawns of this quality do not happen overnight. They take years of dedicated work.”
Benvie said while the croquet club was told it may need to relocate 15 months ago, there was as yet “no clue” as to where it could be moved to.
Millenium Track trustee Garth Mathieson said the proposed plans did not recognise the hard work that had gone into maintaining the current grounds in the domain and the Baypark Speedway.
“These sporting venues were created and maintained by untold hours of hard, voluntary labour over a very long time by their members to create world-class venues for Tauranga city.”
After the speeches, the crowd marched along the track with placards, finishing at the domain’s Cameron Rd gates where they received honks of support from passing motorists.
In a previous story, council community services general manager Barbara Dempsey said the council acknowledged some people had concerns “and we will address those concerns together as the project develops”.
More meetings were planned with the intent of listening to what people had to say, she said.
Dempsey said the council was reviewing the three sites as part of a bigger project to make the city’s shared green spaces better and more accessible.
In the same story, council city development and partnerships general manager Gareth Wallis said no decision about a potential stadium at the domain had been made.
More information about the proposal is expected in April.
