Turning on: Te Awamutu’s Peace Fountain will be working for Armistice Day.
Weeds out: The unsightly median strip in Arawata Street.
Waipā council staff have assured the Te Awamutu Community Board that median strips full of “ugly” weeds at Te Awamutu’s eastern entrance will soon be gone.
Te Awamutu Community Board chair Angela Holt complained the entrances at Arawata Street, SH3 and Cambridge Road looked terrible.
“The excuse that it is too dangerous, or a transit issue is not acceptable,” she said in her monthly report to the board this week.
“We recently have received a written complaint from the public and it is a general comment made by many in our community.”
Parks Operations team leader Matt Johnston said staff sprayed the entrances and median strips and garden staff would cut down the taller weeds when they could safely get onto the island.
There are other roadworks in the area that make it hard to safely complete the work, he said.
Acting general manager Strategy and Community Sally Sheedy said it was dangerous for council teams to do work in areas like this and so any work had to be done alongside traffic management teams.
“While I appreciate doing some low maintenance plants within these sites would be desirable, weeds are still the strongest aspect in these locations so even planting would require some maintenance work.”
Board member Jill Taylor said she had never seen the weeds so bad in the area.
Meanwhile, Holt praised council staff for their support and assistance to get the Peace Fountain in Te Awamutu Memorial Park working for Armistice Day and the next few days.
“I also want to acknowledge the positive working relationship that is growing between the War Memorial Park committee and park staff,” she said.
The Peace Fountain was built in 1955 and was part of the park’s original design.
Water to the fountain comes from the town’s water mains.
A notice at the site says the water has been turned off due to low water levels.
This would help prevent any damage to the pumps which are unable to operate effectively at lower water levels, the signs say.
A concept plan for the park approved by the council as part of its Long-Term Plan advocates the use of solar pumps to reticulate the water.
