Hundreds respond to Napier City Council long term plan

A proposed expansion of the National Aquarium of New Zealand was one of the key consultation items in the Napier Council's long term plan. Photo / File

More than 800 submissions have been returned to the Napier City Council on its draft Long Term Plan 2018-28, hearings for which will begin this Friday.

Water was a prominent theme of the consultation, ranging from the provision of de-chlorinated water stations to the Napier Aquatic Centre development, Ahuriri master plan and the expansion of the National Aquarium of New Zealand.

About 640 submitters gave feedback on whether the council should provide four de-chlorinated water stations around the city, 54 per cent of whom rejected such a proposal or had no preference.

Twenty-four per cent of submitters were in favour of four rates-funded stations, while 22 per cent preferred four user-pays stations.

In presenting the submissions officers said that without a mandate from the public to fund the costs of the stations, they recommended none be provided.

Submissions on whether to build a 25m pool complex at a new site at Prebensen Rd, or a 50m pool at the existing Ivan Wilson facility were fairly evenly split.

Thirty nine per cent of submitters favoured the Prebensen Rd proposal for a new pool complex including cafe, gym and health and wellness centre, at a cost of $41 million, while 38 per cent supported a $20m expansion at the Ivan Wilson complex.

Those in favour of the new build cited the need for more pool space, especially lane swimming, while others supported expanding the existing complex because of its convenient location and lower cost.

Officers noted that the new site would meet the needs of a high proportion of users as well as competitive swimmers.

"The pool will be designed to be able to be developed into a 50m pool, or some other type of pool should future demand dictate," they added.

While pre-consultation last year had shown respondents supported building a new 50m pool for the city, officers said this would duplicate the proposed development at the Hawke's Bay Regional Sports Park, and recommended the council proceed with the new 25m complex.

Nearly half the submitters supported the proposed enhancement of the Ahuriri estuary, at a cost of $21.4m, rather than spending $6.6m on stormwater quality projects only.

On the National Aquarium, half the submissions endorsed the council spending $10.5m on expanding the facility, supplemented with an extra $42.8m of funding from non-council sources.

The other option was to spend $11.5m refurbishing the existing facility with no change to space or size.

Another key consultation topic was whether the council should sell its leasehold land, comprising 76 properties around the city on perpetually renewable leases.

Sixty-one per cent of submitters indicated the land should be sold on a case-by-case basis, with the view that leasehold tenure was restricting investment and development of the land, and that the returns from the portfolio were low.

Those against selling the land cited the impact on rates and loss of income for the council, and concerns over who the council would sell it to.

Officers recommended that councillors approve selling the land only when alternative and suitable investments could be found.

The question of whether the council had the balance right between what was spent on essential services and infrastructure, and what made Napier a great place to live such as hosting events, providing things to do, gardens and parks was also posed during consultation.

Of those who responded 40 per cent said the council had the mix right, 23 per cent wanted more spent on essential services, 8 per cent wanted more spent on vibrancy and 5 per cent supported more being spent on both essential and non-essential services.

The council expected to spend more than $540m over the next 10 years on capital works.

Four days had been set aside for the hearings, and the final LTP was due to be adopted at the council meeting scheduled for June 29.