Whangārei District Council (WDC) has today abandoned proceeding with the $136 million Oruku Landing conference and event centre.
Today's WDC extraordinary meeting where the council voted to abandon the $136m Oruku conference centre. Photo: Northern Advocate / Michael Cunningham
At a two hour extraordinary council meeting, the council formally decided not to go ahead with ratepayers partly funding the centre.
The WDC vote came at a livestreamed meeting in Forum North council chambers where councillors voted 9-5 to abandon funding the centre.
Mayor Sheryl Mai and councillors Nick Connop, Tricia Cutforth, Shelley Deeming, Jayne Golightly, Greg Martin, Anna Murphy, Carol Peters and Simon Reid voted to abandon the Oruku Landing conference and event centre.
Deputy Mayor Greg Innes and councillors Gavin Benney, Vince Cocurullo, Ken Couper, Phil Halse voted against the council doing this.
The centre was to be jointly funded with $60m from the government, $6m from Northland Regional Council (NRC) and at least $57m from WDC. It was to be part of the bigger, private developer's Oruku Landing hotel and apartment development.
Whangārei Mayor Sheryl Mai at today's council meeting. Photo: Northern Advocate / Michael Cunningham
Mai said she accepted that the centre proposal was sincere and visionary but she did not want to see involvement with the centre potentially putting the council and its ratepayers at risk. She said council research had shown this would appear to have been the case with the proposal.
The more than 5000 submissions on WDC funding the centre clearly influenced the councillors' decision. Almost 80 percent of the record-breaking submissions were against the council getting involved.
Councillor Shelley Deeming said one submitter's position that the costs of the centre were socialised while profits were privatised was food for thought.
Deeming said the conference and event centre was a magnificent exciting proposal.
"The conceptual vision is fantastic, it's exciting. But as a financially prudent council investment, not so much," she said.
Gavin Benney today voted against WDC abandoning the Oruku centre. Photo: Northern Advocate / Michael Cunningham
Another councillor, Ken Couper, said the process until today had been an interesting journey.
He said private developers have looked at WDC's plans for the future and how they could work within those plans. They had put a lot of effort into the project and attracted government shovel-ready funding, when the council had not been successful in doing so.
It represented a partnership between council, government, and private developers working to provide stimulus for the local economy, he said.
This was particularly important, given the Marsden Point oil refinery was closing.
It had brought the opportunity to build resilience into Whangārei which had a population that was increasing by 10,000 people every five years.
Couper said it was WDC's job to look ahead to the future and make sure the necessary infrastructure for growth was in place.
Mai was aware the council's decision not to proceed with the centre would be disappointing for those who had put a lot of work into the proposal to date. She said prior to the public consultation she had considered the developer-generated project's many potential benefits. These included benefits for the construction sector and for a potential four star hotel that the city 'absolutely needed'.
She said the intention of the government $60m shovel ready funding for the project to stimulate the regional economy was worthwhile.
"We desperately deserve that investment in our district - $60 million is significant," Mai said.
"Then I heard about the poo running down the walls of Whangārei Hospital and I wondered about the priorities," Mai said.
She said Whangārei already had many conference facilities.
Councillor Anna Murphy said Whangārei ratepayers were already dealing with a 7 percent rates rise this year. Adding extra Oruku centre rates on top of that would be a major challenge for many.
She said caution needed to be given to sensitivity around the current financial challenges people were facing rather than simply conceptualising the impact of the extra Oruku centre rates as the cost of a cup of coffee.
Tricia Cutforth said that the people of Whangārei had clearly spoken against the council going ahead with its centre involvement in an almost 80 percent majority of the Oruku centre submissions calling for this. Photo: Northern Advocate / Michael Cunningham
Cutforth, who led today's call for WDC to abandon the centre, said the people of Whangārei had spoken loudly and clearly on what they thought council should do about the facility.
She said the $60m of government funding for the project had not gained widespread support in the submissions.
Halse pushed for a pared-back version of the centre in the meeting, but his push did not gain sufficient traction. He said it was disappointing his efforts towards keeping the centre alive had not proceeded.
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