Controversial new i-Site centre for Opononi

Mayor John Carter

Visitors should be able to find their way around the Hokianga more easily next summer when a new i-Site information centre is built at Opononi.

They'll be able to enjoy stunning harbour and sand dune views from the new centre's cafe, and few will know the building had earlier been a major bone of contention for the local community.

The i-Site used to be in a Far North Council-owned building that has since been leased to a grocery store on an 18-year term after the original shop was destroyed by fire a year ago.

The community got up in arms when the council that had allowed the Four Square to share the i-Site's accommodation gave that building over entirely to the store - leaving the owner of the burnt building seeking a new tenant and the i-Site having to move into temporary accommodation.

The council's construction arm, Far North Holdings (FNH), has now agreed it will buy that waterfront premises from the private owners, build a new i-Site there, then lease the building back to the council. The new building could be finished before summer, FNH chief executive Andy Nock said.

Kaikohe-Hokianga Community Board chairman John Schollum said the community should be pleased with the outcome as the building design was close to what the community had requested. And the debacle's possible resolution has been welcomed by Mayor John Carter.

"The current council inherited a situation where it owned the i-Site building, but not the land underneath it," Mr Carter said. "We have rectified this and effectively put the site into community ownership by asking our subsidiary Far North Holdings to buy it and give the council first right of refusal if it decides to sell the land and buildings in the future."

Meanwhile, the engineer for the Opononi Store rebuilding project, Thijs Drupsteen, said it seemed ridiculous Far North ratepayers were being forced to fund a new i-Site when a rebuilt store, meeting all modern building standards, was a month away from completion. While the council may have committed itself to accommodating the Four Square store for several years, such agreements were open to renegotiation, he said. Any financial penalty on the council was likely to be less than the time, effort and money required to build a new i-Site.