ATHLETICS - Road big hurdle for $9m complex

CONSTRUCTION of a $1.5 million state-of-the-art athletics track in Whangarei is set to finally forge ahead - but plans to block a nearby street with a custom-designed sports facility are only just emerging.
Earthworks for the track are set to start as early as Monday in the hope that athletes will be hurtling around a new eight-lane artificial 400m track by November.
But the second stage of the project, a new multi-purpose facility, is estimated to cost at least another $9 million to complete.
The complex will also house the Sport Northland regional sports trust gymnastics hall and indoor bowls clubrooms as well as a small 600-seat grandstand - but it will block a residential street and need council engineering and roading consents.
That has all parties engaged in the project nervously waiting for initial approval from the Whangarei District Council.
Several people involved - including Sport Northland chief executive Brent Eastwood, athletics trust chairman Jim Hooper, and trust member Wayne Davison - said stage two of the project was far from a done deal.
But Mr Davison said concept plans were already being drawn up, with the new facility set to be placed directly over Park Ave, which runs along the east side of Kensington Park.
"The track is being placed with stage two in mind, but there has been no consent process work done as far as I am aware. So it is still a glint in council's eye. As to which direction the council will point the trust in terms of what shape the stage two building will be and where it will be placed, who knows," Mr Davison said.
After a 20-year wait just to get approval and a site to put in a new running track in Northland, Mr Hooper was keen for the earthworks to start.
Stage one would ensure a new track, long jump pit, high jump pit and other essential athletics facilities would be installed, he said.
Re-routing Park Ave to make room for the new building will require an extended public notification procedure and consultation with residents in Kensington, as well as with schools, churches and sports bodieshoused nearby.
Mr Eastwood said the project, if completed, would be a huge boost to the Northland sports community. But he was wary of the consent process facing the trust once stage one had been completed.
"In terms of the building we know what we want it too look like, which incorporates each organisation's dreams. What we are waiting for really is the council in terms of whether we can increase the amount of funding in the long-term plan for 2008-09.
"All they have done is said: `Put the track down and away we go, and we will think about stage two later down the track'. Now whether that is this annual plan coming up - who knows?" Mr Eastwood said.
"A resource consent scenario for what they will do with the road ... is next."