Changes to the Whitianga Town Centre upgrade project - have your say.

We're taking some proposed changes to the Whitianga Town Centre Upgrade project out to the community for consultation, as we are looking to compress the work into two stages rather than three, and a new budget is required for stage 2.

This is your opportunity to let us know if you support the change in budget. While this is a targeted consultation within Mercury Bay regarding the local rate impact, it is not a closed consultation and is open to the wider community and other interested parties.

When our 2015-25 Long Term Plan (LTP) was developed the Town Centre upgrade was anticipated to take place over several years in three stages.

However, our latest planning and detailed design has given us more accurate costs, and we have incorporated feedback from businesses, so we are now undertaking the work in two stages, which will also mean less disruption.

Stage 1 is Albert St into Taylor’s Mistake and Stage 2 is the balance of Taylor’s Mistake and The Esplanade.

The intention is to complete the entire Town Centre upgrade in time for the Cook 250 celebrations in October/November 2019.

Because the scope of the project has changed to compress the upgrade into two stages rather than three, and the budget set aside in our LTP only covered Stage 1, a new budget is required for Stage 2. That means there will be financial implications for the ratepayers of Mercury Bay and we need your feedback.

Rating impact

Stage 2 is estimated to cost $715,941, which means an average rates rise of $4.27 (0.8%) for 2017/18 per ratepayer in the Mercury Bay area. The expenditure is loan-funded so the impact per ratepayer from 2018/19 onward is $8.25 as depreciation, loan repayments and interest are applied.

The estimated total rate increase for 2017/18 for Mercury Bay ratepayers, which includes the Town Centre upgrade project, is 3.28%.

Have your say

The consultation begins on Thursday 13 April 2017 and concludes at 4pm on Monday 15 May.

Public meeting: Find out more about the proposal on Wednesday 3 May from 5-6:30pm. Venue to be confirmed.

Use our online consultation portal here

Send our customer service team an email here

Fax us on 07 868 0234

Complete a submission form and post it to us at Thames-Coromandel District Council, Private Bag, Thames, 3540 or drop it into our area offices in Thames, Coromandel Town, Whitianga or Whangamata.

When you make your submission please tell us if you would like to attend a hearing to speak to our Council in support of your submission. Please include a telephone number and email address so we can contact you to arrange a time for your presentation.

Hearings will be held in Whitianga immediately after submissions closing.

For more information on the project click here

Stage 1 update

Meawhile the physical construction work for Stage 1 will be delayed.

"We've had to hold a longer tender period because we are competing against Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga, all of which are extremely busy with major infrastructure projects themselves," says Andrew Boden our project manager for the Town Centre upgrade. "The current market for development both regionally and even nationally just can't keep up with the demand and because of our geography, Whitianga is not as high priority as these other centres, when it comes quoting for larger scale work."

Once tenders are in, a recommendation for contractor appointment will go to Council's July meeting, subject to a review of the received tenders. This means Stage 1 will now be constructed in 2018.

Both Stage 1 and 2 will still be completed in time for the Mercury Bay 250 commemorations in 2019.

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