Statement from Whangarei Mayor, Sheryl Mai

Many and varied proposals received for Town Basin site

Whangarei Mayor, Sheryl Mai, congratulates the community-minded people of Whangarei for their contributions to the future of the old NRC building and site.

A total of 21 proposals were received by Whangarei District Council for the development of the site at the Town Basin by the deadline of Friday 10 October. Fourteen were deposited into the designated tender box which was opened on Monday 13 October 2014 in the Council Chambers, and another seven were received by mail or email.

“The number of proposals reflects the significance of this site to our people, and I’m impressed so many groups and individuals have gone to considerable effort in getting their ideas to us,” Mayor Mai says.

“Some comprise hundreds of pages and others less than a page, and I’m excited we now have the opportunity to look at them all.”

Proposals include many and varied suggestions, including a Time Museum, Maritime Museum, an Art Museum or Art Gallery, a Hundertwasser WairauMaori Arts Centre, a park, a carpark and restaurant, a boutique hotel, a sound shell, developments with maritime, harbourside or ‘green’ themes, a block of flats, an old people’s home, an interactive learning centre, a conference centre, and not developing the site at all.

Proposals have been broken into three groups. Group 1 comprises proposals that the 20/20 Inner City Committee consider have met the criteria on the assessment matrix. There are seven in this category, all of which were received in the tender box.

Group 2 comprises proposals with limited detail or that did not meet the criteria in the assessment matrix. Again, there are seven proposals in this group which were received in the tender box.

In addition to the above, Group 3 consists of a further seven proposals that were received by email or mail. These were checked against the Assessment Matrix but were not considered to have sufficient detail.

“Ideas from proposals that didn’t have sufficient detail may still be considered for inclusion in another proposal that does tick all the boxes in the assessment matrix,” Mayor Mai says.

“The proposals will now be put to Council’s 20/20 Inner City Revitalisation Committee for consideration, and the committee will be open to all options.”

“A Council workshop will also be held to identify the most viable proposals, then a recommendation will be taken to an Extraordinary Council meeting on 29 October where we will also decide how best to put them into the public arena.”

ENDS

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