Prolonged fight ends in canning HAC

Councillor Brian McLachlan speaks against the Hundertwasser Arts Centre project before a packed public gallery at yesterday's Whangarei District Council meeting. Photo/Michael Cunningham

A packed public gallery saw one of the most contentious civic issues in Whangarei in recent years consigned to history when councillors voted to can the controversial Hundertwasser Arts Centre project.

Whangarei District councillors voted 8-6 yesterday to drop the divisive project that was first mooted in 1993 and resurrected in 2008.

HAC became an election issue at the last local body elections with many candidates campaigning on their stance for or against the project.

Yesterday more than 100 members of the public packed into the public gallery for the meeting, with many having to stand behind the council table.

After plenty of debate and passionate speeches the vote was taken.

At the start of the HAC agenda item, councillor Phil Halse moved the information be received; that the council remove the project from its 2012-2022 Long Term Plan and that all previous decisions regarding HAC be rescinded.

When it was put to the vote after more than two hours of debate, councillors Halse, Stu Bell, Shelley Deeming, Susie Bretherton, Brian McLachlan, Greg Martin, Sue Glen and Tricia Cutforth voted for the motion to can the project. Crs Sharon Morgan, John Williamson, Cherry Hermon, Crichton Christie, Greg Innes and mayor Sheryl Mai voted against.

All councillors spoke on the issue and commented that they had to do what they felt was right and back what the public wanted and the final vote was probably a good indication of just how the community was split on the issue.

Cr Halse said he had concerns about the process. A lot of information he had requested on the project was withheld because of commercial sensitivity and as councillor he could not vote for HAC to continue without that information.

"Opportunities should be taken when they come up. We have procrastinated for 21 years [over a Hundertwasser centre] and this ongoing saga has totally split our community," he said. "It's been going on far too long."

He said the council had deferred $20 million of infrastructure because it did not have the money and that was the council's core business.

Cr Hermon said HAC had support from the wider community as well as business, economic development and tourism bodies locally and nationally and it would be good for the region.

The council needed to listen to the community, not betray it and be swayed by outside issues.

"Our biggest export is our youth. Some people see this as a catalyst for the change," Cr Hermon said.

Cr Cutforth said survey results showed the majority were against HAC. Despite "spin' from proponents, rejecting HAC would not lead to the apocalypse for the district.

She also did not think HAC would attract the 140,000-160,000 a feasibility study suggested. "There's been no risk assessment done on the project."

Mayor Mai said she supported HAC going ahead and felt it would be great for Whangarei and the whole country.

Regardless of the outcome, Ms Mai said, the community needed to respect the decision and move on.

The council proposed spending up to $13 million on building HAC at the old Northland Harbour Board building at the Town Basin, with up to $8 million from ratepayers.

An economic feasibility study by consultants Deloitte claims it will attract between 143,000 and 160,000 paying visits annually. The $5 million non-ratepayer funding has already been pledged.

A comprehensive telephone survey carried out by the council found 53 per cent of respondents opposed HAC, 28 per cent of respondents supported it and 19 per cent were either not sure or not leaning either way.

The council has already spent at least $1.6 million on the HAC project and under the Local Government Act the council will have to go through the special consultative process, and call for submissions, to remove HAC from its Long Term Plan.