Two Whangarei District Council dream projects have moved closer to becoming realities.
A proposal confirming the council's intention to develop the Hundertwasser Arts Centre at the former Northland Regional Council building was accepted by 12 of the 13 councillors at their meeting yesterday.
The same 12 councillors also voted in favour of
awarding the $200,000 Lower Hatea River Crossing design project to the Transfield Services/McConnell Dowell Joint Venture.
An amendment to include Councillor Merv Williams on the working group that will supervise the $29 million bridge project was the only change made to the recommendation.
Also, the meeting heard a report from the chairman of the Hundertwasser Non-Profit Organisation, Joram Harel, which was read by Richard Smart, a close friend of the late Friedensreich Hundertwasser.
Mr Harel's report said a Hundertwasser Art Centre in Whangarei "as a gift, is a radiating cultural attraction, a positive source of development in the tourism industry, enrichment of image, a generating power to increase numbers of tourists, a trigger for worldwide promotion, public relation, an advertisement of New Zealand in general and Whangarei especially, as well as a cultural treasure for New Zealand".
Following the report, Councillor Kahu Sutherland made an impassioned plea to his fellow councillors to seize the opportunity the art centre offered. He was fed up, he said, of Whangarei's reputation for crime and stagnation.
"Today you are charged with a decision which could help to lift Whangarei out of that particular doldrum," Mr Sutherland said. "Such is the magnitude and the potential of this particular project."
Several councillors stressed the importance of getting the public on-board with the proposal and getting the procedural matters right.
Mr Edwards, who voted against the recommendation, said he was opposed to the procedure the council had taken so far, rather than the concept itself.
"The process so far hasn't been a reasonable one and by passing that [recommendation] today, the council was only validating that process. I basically didn't want to be a part of that."
Mr Edwards also voted against the Lower Hatea River Crossing recommendation.
He said he did not believe the crossing was a priority issue that required such a big level of council spending at this time.
