Opinion: Tauranga museum plan looks shaky

The proposed museum draft. Cliff Rd residents are against the museum build.Image/Supplied.

The result of a non-binding referendum on whether or not the city should have a museum never really seemed in doubt.

The council last year voted to put $25.65 million of ratepayer money towards a $55.65m museum at Cliff Rd. The project was added to the council's proposed plan for the next decade.

However, the proposal has hit choppy waters since. Overwhelmingly, the feedback from Bay of Plenty Times' readers has been that council should shelve the idea.

Such a reaction is understandable given that the council has been projecting a significant rate rise.

The council says the increase is necessary to have enough money to pay for urgently needed infrastructure. Many have questioned, given the importance of tackling issues such as traffic congestion, why the council is even considering building a museum.

It's a fair question given the size of the rate increase on the cards - many households, especially those on a fixed income will struggle to cover it.

Perhaps, this, and the early public reaction prompted the council's move to hold a referendum issue.

The results, of the referendum, released this week, although closer than expected, were clear. Provisional results showed the city was split 40.6 per cent for and 59.4 per cent against building a museum in the next decade.

Slightly more people approved of Cliff Rd as a potential location over Willow St, but twice as many voters said no to both.

The turnout was just over 30 per cent of registered voters, a little higher than the byelection held in parallel.

Although non-binding, some feel, with good reason, the result will lead to a decision to abandon the project because voters will expect the council to abide by the result.

It's hard to see, in my view, how the council cannot be heavily influenced by the result.

Some might venture it also gives the council a free pass to revisit an earlier decision that did not sit well with the public.

I support the idea of having a museum and the need to value, preserve and take pride in our history.

I look forward to the day when the artefacts will be used in high-tech displays to bring Tauranga's past to life for young minds keen to know their city's history.

However, it's looking increasingly likely that Tauranga residents will have to wait a little longer to see the project come to fruition.

Perhaps the surprising thing to come out of this controversy is why no one was plugging for the museum to replace the council's top priority - to build itself a flash new administration building in the downtown Civic Block.

Staff were now all working out of a centrally located and modern office building on Cameron Rd, so why shouldn't they simply stay there and put the money into a much needed public facility?

That way, there would be ample room in the Civic Block for a museum and library complex, achieving the ideal of the downtown having a real cultural and arts heart, and within easy walking distance of the new university campus in Durham St.