Whakatāne riverfront upgrade: Feedback favours more than baseline spend

The floodwall is planned to continue where the old wharf shed and Whakatāne Sportfishing Club now stand. Photo / Diane McCarthy

Most of the public feedback about Whakatāne District Council’s floodwall integration project supports spending more than the baseline $7.58 million on improvements, according to staff.

At a meeting today, the council will be asked to approve this amount as the budget for improvements to three areas of riverfront affected by Bay of Plenty Regional Council’s Project Futureproof.

However, project manager Ian Morton told council members at a briefing last week the council had received 250 pieces of feedback on the project during a recent two-week engagement period - and less than 28% were in favour of the baseline spending or less.

The three areas include the old isite building, a temporary park on the corner of Quay St and The Strand where the council intends to demolish buildings, and the wharf area around Whakatāne Sportfishing Club.

At the briefing, councillors were shown updated designs, based on public feedback, ahead of today’s decision.

The baseline design was developed to spend the minimum amount needed to retain central government funding of $3.79 million, which has to be matched by the council or given back.

Within the 2024-2034 Long-Term Plan budget, a further $2.1 million had been allocated.

“That is where there are some additional options you may want to consider,” Morton said.

“Of the feedback, around 15 to 20% have said ‘do nothing and give the money back’. There’s been about 8% of people say, ‘do the minimum, baseline design’.

“The other 70 to 75% have said, ‘do some things’, and given a range of feedback.”

Copies of emails, letters and online feedback, along with suggestions made at engagement sessions, were presented to the councillors.

Morton said retaining the former Plunket building, where Halo is located, was an additional option for spending the further $2.1 million budgeted in the long-term plan.

The old isite building on the riverbank is likely to be leased to a food and beverage business. Photo / LDR

Most of the feedback around the old isite building showed people felt minimal improvements should be made to this, as it should be left to a new tenant to carry out a refit to their own specifications.

The temporary park has a budget of $1.3 million - most of which would be required for the removal of the buildings on the former Harbour Board-owned land.

Since 2002, there has been a moratorium on the sale of these leasehold properties.

The council is proposing to clear the site and use it as a recreational space in the short term, until required legislative steps are worked through and economic conditions improve, when it plans to sell the land for development.

It was unknown how long this would take, but a minimum of five years was considered likely.

An updated design was simpler than those that went out for engagement and included more green space.

Some feedback stated the council should not be spending money on creating a park if it was planning to sell it at some point.

Councillor Lesley Immink questioned whether demolishing the buildings was something the council needed to do.

“Property developers buy stuff all the time as it is and they deconstruct and then reconstruct whatever they want. We could be saving that $1.2 million,” she said.

Morton said the land would be more attractive to developers if the area was “activated” and there were a lot of people around using it.

Retaining the former Plunket Building, a tiny art deco building from early last century, was expected to cost between $170,000 to $210,000.

This was listed as among the potential extra improvements, with the potential for a cafe or some other business to lease it.

Retaining this long term would, however, decrease the value of the overall area for future property developers as they would have to build around it.

Some feedback was against the idea of basketball courts and other forms of ball sports in the area, largely due to its proximity to roads but also because teenagers were already well catered for in town.

A water play area for younger children or exercise equipment for the elderly were among the suggestions for equipment in this park.

Engagement feedback on the Commercial Wharf area sought further provision for food and beverage and ice supply businesses.

Morton said the council could not confirm at present whether a proposed annex to the sportfishing club to support these businesses was still planned to go ahead.

– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.