Trust objects to referendum

Kelly Barclay is proposing to council to build a museum in the Cliff St area.

A proposal to spend $40,000 gauging how Tauranga residents feel about the development of a museum for Tauranga has disappointed leading kaumatua Colin Bidois.

Mr Bidois, a member of the Tauranga Moana Museum Trust Board, said he did not see the necessity for the council to canvass public opinion when the need for a museum was so clear.

"Tauranga needs a museum. We are the only city in New Zealand not to have one. We have a beautiful story to tell."

He was concerned the public debate preceding a survey would see the silent majority drowned out by the "squeaky wheels" opposed to a museum.

The survey was the council's response to the trust seeking a $100,000 grant as part of a last-ditch bid to keep the project alive.

The money would have paid for the development of a "best fit" museum concept before fundraising - including employment of a project manager for 12 months and doing a feasibility and economic impact study.

Mr Bidois said spending $40,000 on a survey would not help the board much.
The council will decide on the survey next Tuesday.

He wants the council to restore the $100,000 it originally pledged to fund museum resource consent costs. "We want to get on with the job."

The survey proposal was also in response to the trust wanting the council to reverse its hands-off attitude towards the museum project.

Another museum board member Kelly Barclay this month urged the council to work with the the trust on the project which had failed to gain momentum since the museum on the waterfront was axed following huge political fallout in the 2007 election.

The proposed survey was revealed this week when the council released the 584-page agenda for next week's meetings where it planned to finalise its 2015-25 Long Term Plan. Mayor Stuart Crosby said the council did not want to go down the path proposed by the trust without a degree of community support.

One of the questions was whether the council should be prepared to support a big chunk of museum operating costs.

The staff explanation for the survey was "to provide an appropriate way forward" for the trust's plans to develop a museum.

"The community survey provides the opportunity for council to gauge the level of interest and commitment that the community has to development of a museum in Tauranga, 10 years on from the 2006 survey."