Debate over Prebensen Drive site for Napier pool back on council agenda

No pool, just a puddle. But this site on the corner of Tamatea Drive and Prebensen Drive is again being considered as the future home of a Napier aquatic centre. Photo / Paul Taylor

The city-fringes site where the start of development as a new Napier aquatic centre was once blocked after the bulldozers had started rolling is again in the frame as home for a major pools complex.

Also in the picture are two sites at Onekawa Park, home of the current Napier Aquatic Centre, where a multi-pools lido-type complex opened in 1963, among them a location closer to Flanders Ave, once the main entrance.

The city-fringes site is on a block at the corner of Tamatea Driveand Prebensen Drive and will be considered at an extraordinary meeting of the full-Napier City Council Sustainable Napier Committee meeting on Thursday.

The Prebensen-Tamatea site became a major public issue when it was selected by the council of former Mayor Bill Dalton in April 2018, with a ball-park price tag of $41.3 million.

The Friends of the Onekawa Aquatic Centre took it to court, an injunction first stopping the letting of a contract and, while a High Court judicial review of the decision processes eventually found in favour of the council, and some initial earthworks had started, a new council put the issue on hold.

Thursday's meeting will also consider costs and timeframes of constructing a new aquatic facility at its meeting.

The recommendation for this week's meeting is for council officers to prepare further information for community consultation.

The report for the council analyses the Tamatea-Prebensen site that was originally proposed in the Long-Term Plan 2018-28, along with the two locations at Onekawa Park.

A council statement says the start date for construction of any future aquatic facility impacts on the maintenance costs and capital works needed at the existing Napier Aquatic Centre.

"For this reason, council will look at supporting an additional $8.6 million spend over the next two financial years to maintain health and safety standards and service continuity," the statement says.

Mayor Kirsten Wise acknowledges the community's interest in the project and says it is important to have detailed information when considering such a large investment.

The project dominated the time of the 2016-19 council and Wise said: "Councillors agreed the best approach was to 'press pause' on the project in 2020 so we could gather more information on the costs and risks for building at either Onekawa Park or Prebensen Drive.

"It is important we have all the information we need in front of us," she said. "I believe we are now in a far better position to make decisions on this alongside our community. We are committed to consulting with the community on this significant project."

She said the council acknowledges "there is demand for more pool space in Napier and we need to address this for the sake of the health and wellbeing of our community".

When the "pause button" was pressed two years ago, councillors requested further information on the cost, risks and timeframes of constructing a new aquatic centre on five potential locations at Onekawa Park.

Geotechnical and contamination investigations were undertaken on those sites, confirming the presence of refuse material, heavy metals and a shallow water table.
The results were similar to those in the other parts of the park that were investigated in 1997 and 2011.

Based on investigation results, the committee has now been presented with the costs, risks and timeframes of building on two potential sites at Onekawa Park and the previously proposed site on the corner of Tamatea Drive and Prebensen Drive.

There have been several developments in the 59 years on the Onekawa site, once a significant landfill following the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake.

The Ivan Wilson indoor pool complex was completed in 1998, and in 2006 the original outside 50m pool and dive pool closed.

Allan's Pool (the small learn-to-swim pool at the Flanders Road side) is an original feature from 1963, and other current pools are considered to be at end of their useful life, reports say.