Rotorua Lakes Council has spent almost $74,000 on its controversial reserves proposal, which narrowly passed council approval last Thursday, with a casting vote from mayor Steve Chadwick.
The cost is made up of legal costs of almost $35,000, consultant costs of more than $29,000 and advertising, drone footage and video costs of more than $10,000.
The proposal, which has faced four months of torrid debate, was to revoke the reserve status of seven of the city's reserves in order to sell and redevelop them, by way of a local bill through Parliament. It faced a split vote on the council last week, which was broken by Chadwick's casting vote in favour.
On Monday, Rotorua MP Todd McClay said the cost seemed "like a ridiculous amount of money for something the public is quite opposed to".
He said the money would have better been spent on building houses and ratepayers would be "angry" they had faced "significant rate increases" when it was already hard to pay bills.
''The residents of Rotorua have a right to be angry."
Rotorua MP Todd McClay. Photo / Andrew Warner
The proposal had been met with opposition from many, attracting four petitions, more than 600 written submissions, four days of hearings on the issue and a protest.
The seven reserve sites – on Wrigley Rd, High St, Clinkard Ave, Turner Dr, Gallagher St and Linton Park West, will be included in a local bill to be presented to Parliament to enable their swift change in status and sale for redevelopment.
On Monday, McClay said there was "deep disappointment" in the community about the decision, and some anger.
However, he said it was "not too late".
"Anything is reversible."
Community feedback on the proposal had been "clear" in its opposition and in his opinion, Chadwick should not have used her casting vote to approve it, he said.
In his view: "The council has said 'we know best and we don't care what local people think – we're going to do what we want anyway'."
McClay believed casting votes should support the status quo and a majority consensus should have been sought.
He said the council had not approached him but if the bill was presented to him for introduction to Parliament, he would argue strongly against it.
Local Democracy Reporting approached some community members for their general response to the decision, before the council revealed the cost associated with the proposal.
Western Heights Community Association chairman Owen Roberts said the proposal's approval, given public opposition, was "unbelievable".
He said he would like to see a new council "pull it apart" and withdraw the local bill.
Don Paterson, a councillor candidate who had been vocal in his opposition to the reserves proposal, was also disappointed with the use of the mayor's casting vote to "push it through".
He intended to complain to the Ombudsman about the reserves proposal process, which in his opinion had been "poorly run".
Don Paterson. Photo / Andrew Warner
That included letters taking too long to reach residents, not reaching enough residents and not holding meetings about the proposal in communities affected, he said.
Paterson believed there was a "good case for having another serious protest".
Submitter and real estate agent Bryn Parry said he didn't believe any of the reserve sites should be sold but was "over the moon" Lee and Coulter Rd Reserves had been removed from the proposal at committee level.
It showed the council had listened to feedback from ratepayers, he said.
He hoped there would not be "egg on the council's face in the future" from deciding to revoke other reserves, however, as he believed areas like Western Heights were likely to be intensified, and with smaller backyards people would need plentiful reserve provision.
"It's very, very shortsighted."
Submitter John Pakes said the proposal should "never have gone to public consultation".
"In that arena, it was always guaranteed to be opposed due to the Nimby effect."
He said the result of "polls of public opinion" was "always" skewed in opposition.
In his opinion: "Councils are elected to govern. In this instance ours did not. They do understand that the most pressing issues facing Rotorua are poverty and ... a drastic lack of affordable housing."
He said the decision to proceed with a local bill was a "no-brainer".
He said the issue had become "politicised" in the context of the local election.
There had also been other pockets of support for the proposal, with real estate agent Steve Lovegrove expressing support for it in "resolving the housing situation".
On Thursday, a council spokeswoman said work was progressing on the draft of the local bill.
Asked what the next steps were for the council following the approval of the decision, and when it was expected to be introduced to Parliament, she said the council would communicate with communities around the reserve sites and "inform them directly of the decisions made and the process now under way".
She confirmed the cost associated with the proposal to date was $73,848.01.
On Thursday Chadwick said she "took no comfort or pleasure" in being "forced" to use a casting vote "since we ended up with just 10 elected members at the council table".
Councillor Peter Bentley resigned in April, following a fiery exchange with Chadwick about its representation arrangements local bill.
Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick. Photo / Andrew Warner
"Where we have a substantive recommendation before us, we are required to make a decision and as was the case when we were voting on whether to take the reserves proposal out to community consultation and then when it came to final decision-making, a casting vote was needed in order to get a decision."
She said elected members were elected to make decisions "in the best interests and for the benefit of the whole community".
"The housing crisis is not going away and the reserves proposal is just one component of a much wider programme of work and collective efforts to enable more homes to be built."
She claimed elected members gave unanimous support for staff to investigate the potential housing use of reserve sites that did not meet reserve policy requirements.
Local Democracy Reporting is public interest journalism funded by NZ On Air.
