Whangārei's Oruku conference centre: Record number of submissions on the plan received

An artist's impression of the planned Oruku Landing development in Whangārei.

The Whangārei District Council's proposed Oruku Landing convention and events centre has had a big thumbs down from submitters on the eve of the council deciding on whether to go ahead with the facility.

Almost 80 per cent of the 5242 submissions received were against the council funding some of the $136-million centre. There were 3682 submissions against the council going ahead with the centre compared with 1021 submissions in favour of WDC doing so.

Roughly 500 submissions were still to be processed by the council when this information went into the agenda.

The council received the record 5242 submissions from the October 18 to November 18 public submission period. These will be the focus of a November 24 council Oruku issues and options meeting, ahead of the council's decision on the proposed centre.

Councillors will on Friday decide whether to proceed with the centre, part of the bigger $250 million Oruku Landing development with a hotel, apartments and more on Whangārei Town Basin. The private developer behind the plan Northland Development Corporation (NDC) says the publicly funded centre is crucial to attracting the hotel to the bigger development.

A council yes would also commit Far North, Kaipara and Whangārei ratepayers to paying for the centre through a further Northland Regional Council (NRC) rates rise of 1.4 per cent to pay for $6 million it has earmarked for the facility.

This submissions' yes/no breakdown was based on analysing 4724 of the 5242 submissions. Of these, 78 per cent or 3682 of the submission analysed at the then time of writing were in favour of the district council taking no further action with the project. Meanwhile, 22 per cent - 1021 submissions - were in favour of the council continuing with the project. The remaining 21 of those analysed were neutral or unable to be processed.

Those who were against cited issues including the up to 7 per cent district council rates rise to pay for the centre, environmental issues such as sea-level rise, lack of parking, instead using the Government funding towards fixing an ailing Whangārei Hospital and money being better used for other things.

Those who were for the centre cited reasons including future-proofing Whangārei, the location as well as its economic, social and cultural benefits.

NDC owner Barry Trass' submission called on district councillors to be bold in their Friday centre decision.

"My expectations is (sic) that councillors need to be bold and visionary and think of future benefits and job opportunities this development will provide. Please don't get too focused on the short-term pains or persuaded by the habitual nay-sayers. Trust the process, the time expended, expert knowledge and advice, and the scrutiny this project has already undergone to get to this point. It's shovel ready - let's do it!" Trass said.

Former district councillor Robin Lieffering submitted against the proposal. "I am not satisfied that there is sufficient substance to the financial assessment of this project. Any construction is likely to over-run by as much as 30 per cent to 50 per cent and when we are considering a project costing many millions any over-runs will also be in the millions.

"The Events and Conference Centre, currently named the Semenoff Stadium (in Whangārei) , was supposed to meet this event and conference provision for the district and has proven to be a rugby and FUNCTION centre only. We do not know if this has been fully paid for yet? The hotel is not confirmed either. Too many loose ends. Please bin this proposal," she said.

The submissions have been collated into roughly a thousand pages in the agenda for Wednesday's issues and options meeting and they can be seen at pub-wdc.escribemeetings.com/FileStream.ashx?DocumentId=2454