The 1998 front entranceway of the Northern Wairoa War Memorial Hall is set for demolition in mid-2026. Photo / LDR
Kaipara’s Deputy Mayor says a new town hall for Dargaville should be completed by 2028.
Gordon Lambeth said he wanted to see a replacement civic complex completed before the end of the current council term.
The comments come after the Kaipara District Council (KDC) decided this month to demolish the settlement’s more than 65-year-old town hall and conjoined 27-year-old civic annex in a ratepayer-funded $3.98 million project.
Demolition is expected to begin mid-next year.
“We need to get going, just to get the town’s civic facilities back to where they once were,” Lambeth said.
It is the latest step in a long-running and often controversial saga of what to do about the two conjoined civic facilities – which included a room for KDC’s Dargaville council meetings – after they were shut to the public in 2023 following the discovery of black mould in the annex.
Lack of maintenance since the closure has seen black mould spread to the town hall, officially known as the Northern Wairoa Memorial Hall.
KDC had planned to reclad rather than demolish the town hall.
However, that changed after a recent building assessment found significant remediation would be needed to bring it up to code. It also has black mould.
The annex had also further deteriorated, affecting the connected buildings and posing compliance and health risks.
KDC had also looked to reclad only the site’s third conjoined building – a heritage-listed 1923 former municipal chambers, plus build it new toilets. This has changed to renovating the century-plus old building.
KDC’s general manager for strategic improvement, Hayley Worthington, said the extra work was expected to come within the existing $3.98 million.
Kaipara Mayor Jonathan Larsen said the town hall demolition decision was a significant turning point.
“The most recent condition report made it clear we needed to act with a sense of urgency. Patch-ups could have ultimately been more costly for ratepayers than proceeding with a demolition and rebuild,” Larsen said.
The 1950s-built town hall and 1998-built annex make up about 80% of the footprint of the civic conglomeration in Hokianga Rd, with the 1923 former municipal chambers taking up the remaining 20%.
A community trust runs the popular Anzac community movie theatre out of the former chambers.
Dargaville Community Cinema Trust chair Tommy Fowlie said the latest council decision was poignant for Dargaville, but practical.
He said there had been hope until now that the iconic and much-used town hall could be saved.
“It was quite a busy hub.”
But he recognised demolition and rebuilding were the best options in the circumstances.
“After I got over the shock, I realised it was the council’s best move in the current situation.”
Fowlie said the town hall’s demolition was on everybody’s lips.
He said it had been widely used over the years for events including local high school balls, wearable arts shows, local circus performances, indoor netball and badminton.
Fowlie said the movie theatre might have to close during the demolition, but it would not be permanent.
He said noise from the demolition would mean showing movies was untenable.
Fowlie said there could be ways the very well-supported community movie group could adapt through the demolition process.
“It might be that we could show movies in the weekends or after hours, outside when the demolition was being done.”
He called on the council to provide a demolition timeline to reassure the trust and community.
Fowlie wanted the demolition to start as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, he said, community consultation had to be part of creating the replacement civic facilities.
Worthington said it was not possible to provide a timeline until after tendering and contractor appointment.
She said the KDC would be working closely with stakeholders to make sure access was maintained during demolition, where possible.
Dargaville Warriors Lodge gaming club president Tristan Sample said the latest demolition decision marked progress on resolving worsening issues with the existing civic centre that should have been sorted out years ago.
The gaming club and Dargaville Medieval Combat Club, which Sample co-captains, both operate out of the 1923 building.
He said previous plans for the centre had not been tenable.
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.