Council says 'no' to Tauranga cycleway

Councillor Matt Cowley says 'no' to a proposed Bay cycleway. Photo/file

Tauranga City Council has decided not to contribute its share of a proposed $4.5 million cycleway from Omokoroa to Otumoetai.

The council today decided against funding its $500,000 share of the $1.5m cost to build the city leg of the path starting at the Wairoa River and following the harbour side of the main trunk railway.

Councillor Matt Cowley was one of six councillors who opposed putting the money into the 2015-25 Long Term Plan, fearing that the $500,000 would bump out spending on the city's urban cycle network.

He also questioned figures that visitors using the New Zealand Cycle Trail network were each spending $131 to $176 a day. He said this was the average spent on the country's premier cycleways and not one that went through "a paddock in the Western Bay".

Western Bay District Council has already committed $300,000 a year towards its $1.5m section of the cycleway to the Wairoa River while the Tauranga Energy Consumer Trust (TECT) was looking at funding a new "iconic" $1.5m bridge across the Wairoa River north of the road bridge.

Tauranga council's funding partners for the city leg of the cycleway would have been the New Zealand Transport Agency and the Government's National Urban Cycleway Fund.
The council's decision will be tested against public opinion when consultation begins on the Long Term Plan.

In other decisions today, the council has backed a scheme that could see it pour nearly $1 million to bring the former Mount Cosmopolitan Club building up to leasing standards.

The council has given its commercial arm Bay Venues Ltd the chance to raise an additional $2 million to fit out the building and buy gym equipment in order to convert it into a high performance sports training centre.

The decision mostly went against staff advice to sell the building, its carpark and a neighbouring residential property at 50 Miro Street. Councillors agreed to sell the residential property which has rating valuation of about $600,000 despite Cr Rick Curach arguing that there was strategic value in retaining the property because of its connectivity to the main site.

Today's meeting also decided by a vote of 9-1 to use this year's $1m rates surplus to offset the $1.37m costs of dealing with the Civic Centre's toxic mould problem and shifting staff to temporary premises. The rest of the money will come from the risk management reserve.

It was also agreed to put aside $1m a year for the next two years to fund Project Clean costs and $1m a year for the next two years to address water tightness and seismic issues with the civic block complex. A further $800,000 a year from 2017-18 would be put aside to bring the buildings up to standard.