Kawarau Arm Community Project

The waterfront, a valued community asset where the town's history meets the beauty of nature, holds immense potential for rejuvenation and enrichment and responds to the projected sedimentation in the Kawarau Arm of Lake Dunstan. This means delivering realistic and practical solutions based on the important ideas shared by the community in the workshop and the ‘Delivering a long-term vision for Lake Dunstan’ document.

Contact is carefully considering (with strong input on design from community) what the options are for a waterfront revitalisation project. We’ll continue to consult and listen to ideas from the community which enables us to evaluate, analyse and test against a range of factors including engineering considerations, costs, environmental impacts, community and tangata whenua views, plus resource consent obligations.

In 2023 we began our collaboration with the community to co-design improvements to the Old Cromwell area. This was part of Contact’s revised 2019 - 2024 landscape and visual amenity management plan (LVAMP) for the Kawarau Arm of Lake Dunstan.

The workshop outcomes have formed the basis and we have interpreted the outcomes to create a comprehensive and cohesive plan for the future. Through a carefully planned series of initiatives, a revitalised waterfront is envisaged that seamlessly integrates commercial opportunities, environmental conservation, recreation, and cultural heritage. As these options include areas where other parties have responsibilities, we will work closely with them to determine if elements can be delivered in partnership.

In early 2023, Contact worked with Shaping our Future to facilitate two public workshops as the first stage of producing a long-term plan to improve the waterfront area and mitigate the impacts of siltation between Butcher Drive and the Junction. 

Following the workshops, Contact engaged Arrowtown-based landscape architects, Blakely Wallace, to produce concept plans for the area. Then Contact invited locals to view and comment on concept plans for improvements to the Cromwell waterfront at drop-in sessions. The workshops were attended by over 130 people and we received positive and helpful comments which were considered by the architect.

Further to this we have engaged with mana whenua, key stakeholders and community to develop plans further and establish prioritised elements considered feasible to take forward to seek resource consent which include:

1. Native Planting
2. Raised board walk
3. Jetty extension
4. Reclamation

We are currently working with landscape architects, engineers, mana whenua and ecologists to develop the design further in order to determine expected costs and resource consents for the project.

Next steps: We are currently working on developing the resource consent which includes engagement with key stakeholders and consenting authorities as well as developing the design elements to gain more certainty of costs. We expect to be able to share these revised plans in early March with the view of lodging the resource consent application later in the month.

Navigate through the concept plans and artist renders in the map tour below.

Click on the link below to open and download the concept plans

 Concept Plan Download