It may be more than a decade on from the Christchurch quakes, but a replacement for the city's once-glorious stadium is yet to eventuate. Now residents have had their say, declaring overwhelming support for the project.
While
Christchurch stadium explainer: What's going on and why is it taking so long
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An artist's impression of Christchurch's planned multi-use arena, Te Kaha. Photo / Supplied
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But that all changed in 2010 and 2011 when quakes struck, damaging the stadium, in the council's eyes, beyond repair.
The plan to create a covered arena was put forward by a Government panel in 2012, with both local and central Government footing the bill. However, real progress on the new build is yet to be made.
In the years since, the city's much-loved Crusaders have kept Christchurch their home, playing at Rugby League Park, but many other events including international musicians have skipped the garden city in favour of larger venues elsewhere in the country.
How come it's taking so long?
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Like a dysfunctional family wedding, there's been a long back and forth around overall pricing and seating arrangements.
The projected cost was $470 million, then it became $533m, and now the Christchurch City Council has revealed the proposed design for the stadium, Te Kaha, has blown its budget again - pushing the cost to $683m.
The $150m price hike for Te Kaha, because of rising international costs in materials and construction, sparked a public consultation last month.
This also comes after the council copped a backlash and U-turned on a decision to slash the capacity to 25,000.
What do the public want?
Before the council can make a decision on whether to invest an extra $150m into the project, it was legally required to consider feedback from the community.
Should the council: invest the additional $150m to enable the project to continue as planned; stop the project all together; or pause and re-evaluate the project.
Christchurch City Council confirmed 77 per cent of the 30,000 submissions received were in support of the extra $150m being spent.
Council research analyst Aimee Martin said 8 per cent indicated they want the project paused and re-evaluated, while 15 per cent say they want it stopped completely.
Crusaders CEO Colin Mansbridge shared the rugby franchise's submission in an open letter to the mayor and councillors, firmly stabbing the giant Crusaders sword into the ground and calling on city leaders to keep the promise made to build a new stadium.
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"Stopping is not an option," Mansbridge said. "A promise was made - please deliver on the promise."
What happens now?
The submissions will be analysed and a full report prepared for the council for the meeting on Thursday, July 14.
Information will also be provided by Te Kaha Project Delivery Limited on efforts to secure a fixed-price contract for the arena from BESXI and Venues Otautahi on the key design features, economic impacts, and life cycle costs of the multi-use arena.
The full council meeting will start at 10am and will be live-streamed.
