You've let us know you love using the Rec to exercise, whether it's running or walking but that some people don't really know where it is or how to get there and we could have better signs to show people where to go and what they can do once they're there. We've taken your feedback and come up with a plan we hope you like. Scroll down to the survey near the bottom of the page to let us know what you think!

Paths

The concept design idea is to create a well-connected network of walking and cycling paths for people of all ages and abilities to improve how people get to and move around the Rec. We could do this by upgrading the existing paths and adding new ones.

A popular idea we can make happen, is to create an accessbile loop path (that can be used by walkers, cycles,prams and mobility device users), with a fitness trail along the way and to make it easier for pedestrians to get to the Rec from the town centre by creating a new entry at Lorne Street. Local iwi have suggested a Waharoa (gateway) could be built at the Lorne St entrance to welcome visitors and clearly identify the new path.

 Vehicles

There are three vehicle entrances to the Rec including Cureton Street, Anzac Avenue and Avenue Road South. We could formally make Cureton Street the main vehicle entrance and create a new internal road to connect the Anzac Avenue entrance. If so, this new road would become a part of the new shared path network, so we'd pop measures to slow cars down in this section. If we remove some aging trees (and plant new ones elsewhere) and slightly realign the driveway off Anzac Ave, we could fit one more full size cricket pitch (see 'Eastern field' and 'plants and trees' sections). 

Parking

There are three dedicated car parking areas at the Rec with users regularly parking on the grass alongside the internal road, damaging the grass and affecting the health of the parkland trees. One idea is to upgrade the existing large carparks at the Cureton Road entrance and by the exisitng clubrooms and install bollards to keep people from parking on some grassed areas.  

Plants and trees make up an important part of any large park area like the Rec and can take years to establish. We think it's important to have a strategy to make sure all our planting serves a purpose, we have a plan for aging trees and we're following a plan that benefits current and future generations.

Waitakaruru Stream Corridor

The Rec is part of the Piako River catchment and the native conifer ecosystem that once covered a big part of the Waikato basin. Planting along the stream plays an important role in nature by filtering runoff, making the stream banks stable and providing a home for native animals. Ideally, we'd plant in a way that suits the area to help our native plants regenerate themselves to help planting along the stream become self-sustaining. 

We propose acheiving this by working with community groups such as the Piako Catchment Forum and supporting their work restoring and mantaining the Waitakaruru Stream Corridor as well as adding a large planted area with a good mix of forest trees in the southwestern corner of the ground to make the corrider bigger. Local iwi are keen in partnering with Council on this project by growing native plants using the Ngāti Hauā Mahi Trust nursery.

Parkland trees

The Rec is known for its large exotic and native parkland trees which are not only lovely to look at but provide great shelter and shade. As well as planting new native trees between the existing trees, we're looking at planting a new line of trees through the middle of the fields to make sure the next generation of parkland trees are planted and are large enough to replace the existing trees when they come to the end of their life. Eventually this would form a native canopy, which is great for nature and provides shade/shelter for spectators. There'd also be gaps for vehicles to move between fields, particularly for the large events llike Motorama, Fireworks and the A&P Show.

Amenity planting

This covers any lower level planting that isn't a speciman/parkland tree. We're keen to make a plan for planting at entry/exit points, in and around the buildings and other built facilities, to use with parkland trees to screen off the railway and to keep sight lines clear and avoid blind spots so people feel safe as they move around. Local iwi also shared with us the importance of keeping clear views of surrounding local landmarks, such as Mount Misery.

Bioretention planting

This is planting to help with areas prone to flooding, like the low lying areas near the railway.

Grass

Make sure grassed areas are easy to maintain and the right kind of grass is used in each area (i.e. cricket, soccer and polo).

You've let us know you'd like to see more options for the pools, have some sort of café/clubhouse, better courts, more options for playgrounds and other hang out spots for all ages and potentially an indoor recreation/event centre. Here are three ways we could lay out this area. Check the key at the bottom of each image to see how much space has been allocated to playgrounds, parking, etc, as it differs for each option.

Option 1

This option has a similar layout to what we have there now, but we'd plan to improve each area. With this option, we could have an early childhood playground, school age/youth playground, club rooms with bathrooms and café, hardcourts for tennis, basketball and hockey, parking, a swimming pool complex area (the space is large enough for changing rooms, swimming pool and a splash pad in all three options, but this option has the largest space out of the three dedicated to the swimming pool complex).

Option 2

This option is similar to the first but has space for an indoor recreation/event centre. We could have a larger early childhood playground and bbq area, a school age/youth playground, event centre (similar size to the Silver Fern Farms Event Centre in Te Aroha), clubrooms, with bathrooms and a café, hardcourts for tennis, basketball and hockey, parking and a swimming complex.

Option 3

This option is if you envision the Rec being the main 'sports hub' of Morrinsville. It has an early childhood playground, school age/youth playground, event centre (similar size to Silver Fern Farms Event Centre), clubrooms with bathrooms and café, hardcourts for tennis, basketball, and netball, a larger parking space than the other options and swimming pool complex.

This field is currently home to a polo field, an off-leash dog area on the polo field (when polo isn't using it), the annual A&P show and fireworks. It can be reached through the Avenue Road South entrance and has a small car park and pedestrian access. We've come up with three ways we could lay out this field based on your feedback. All options have room for the A&P show and fireworks events to continue.

Option 1

Keep the polo field and include an ultimate frisbee field.

Option 1

Replace the polo field with other sports like rugby league, ultimate frisbee and more football fields.

Option 3

Replace polo with ultimate frisbee and make room for sports currently played elsewhere in Morrinsville.

This field is home to two sports that are very popular in Morrinsville at the moment. Cricket has one grass pitchblock, two artificial pitches and practice nets. Football has three senior football field sand three junior fields. Based on feedback and site measurements, we've come up with a concept to make this space even better for these two sports.

Although we've only provided one option for the Eastern field, our survey at the bottom gives you the chance to choose 'other' on this or any of our options. We want to know what you think and if you don't agree with what we've put together, let us know what you think should be there instead. Let's Reimagine Morrinsville Rec together! 

Option 1

We propose to reorganise the current sports fields, improve drainage and investigate lighting options. We could lay out three full size cricket pitches if we remove the line of aging trees at the southern end of the fields (plant new ones elsewhere) and slightly realign the road.

Recreation areas are spaces we can use for some of the things you've told us you'd like to see at The Rec, including a dedicated fenced off-leash dog area, a pump track, frisbee golf and a motorhome/caravan parking area (similar to that on Spur Street in Te Aroha). This includes the long narrow space by the railway line (access via Lorne Street and Avenue Road South) plus the area to the south (access via Anzac Avenue) which currently houses the A&P Society building, fire brigade building and the old campsite. We're providing two similar options, each keep the community group storage buildings. Please see the 'plants and trees' section for more about the plan to screen the railway from these areas with planting.