Whakatāne District Council has approved requests for logs harvested from woodlots on Maraetōtara Road and Paparoa Road to be carted out through Ōhope.

In a report to this week’s Projects and Services Committee meeting, Transportation Manager Martin Taylor detailed two applications for exemptions to the current Heavy Traffic Bylaw that prohibits heavy traffic from travelling through the Whakatane/Ohope urban traffic areas.

The first application from PF Olsen was on behalf of Ngati Awa Group Holdings Limited (NAGHL) which owns and manages the Ngāti Awa farm at Ōhope. Trees on the Maraetōtara farm suffered windfall damage during Cyclone Cook and while most were extracted in the weeks following the cyclone, wet weather meant the work could not be completed. NAGHL anticipates the extraction of the remaining logs will be completed within 3-4 weeks, depending on weather conditions.

The second request, from Ohiwa Transport, involves the harvesting and extraction of a small woodlot at Paparoa Road, scheduled to start in April, and to take approximately two months to complete, again, depending on the weather.

Mr Taylor said that generally, exemptions are not granted for any freight movements, including logging operations that originate from outside the district, unless State Highway 2 is closed.
“However, there are a number of small woodlots in the Wainui Road area, west of and including Paparoa Road, where it would be unreasonable to require the carrier to backtrack along the length of Wainui Road to Matekerepu and then back along the State Highway.”

To date two other similar applications have been approved by Council. The first was from NAGHL in 2012 and the second for a woodlot currently being harvested from Paparoa Road.

“There has been no significant feedback or complaints to Council with respect to the current log transporting activity through Ohope,” Mr Taylor said.

The Committee adopted his recommendation that the applications be approved, subject to a number of conditions. These included: that truck movements through the urban areas be restricted to daylight hours, Monday to Friday; no more than five return truck and trailer movements per woodlot per day; no movements past Ōhope Beach School during peak traffic times; and no engine braking in urban areas.