Tauranga City Council has signed off a $50 million museum at Cliff Rd after a nine-to-two split vote this afternoon.
Ratepayers' contribution to the museum build cost would be capped at $20.65m. They will also be asked to fork out $20m for a new central library. The rest of the funding was expected to be raised from external sources.
The council voted seven to four in favour of building a $25m new central library on Willow St.
Both projects will go into the council's 10-year budget, which will go out for public consultation in the first half of next year.
The council will review their decisions alongside community submissions mid-2018.
Some councillors said they had concerns about a Cliff Rd museum - potential consent delays, Cliff Rd residents' fears, build and operating cost - but supported putting the project out for public consultation to find out what the community thought.
Councillor Larry Baldock, who has spearheaded the charge towards Cliff Rd, said he did not believe the site would be as problematic as had been predicted.
He said the council had gone through a long process, looking through "oodles of material" to reach their decision.
Councillor Bill Grainger said he was in favour of a museum but spoke out against the Cliff Rd site, saying he believed there were too many barriers to make the site viable.
"Building in a residential area will have constraints and I personally don't think it will come to fruition."
He advocated for keeping the Cliff Rd area as open space and said the council should heed the results of a community survey of 400 residents, the majority of whom favoured an integrated facility on Willow St.
Grainger and councillor Gail McIntosh voted against the proposal.
Earlier in the meeting, Graeme Horsley, a member of the Heart of the City Technical Advisory Group, said he had seen a move from consultants and advisors being strongly in favour of the Willow St site to preferring the Cliff Rd site for a museum.
Though the residents come cognisance. Through cognisance comes come understanding. Through understanding comes knowledge, through knowledge comes life and wellbeing.
Horsley said he had spoken to residents of Cliff Rd, including the developers of the Latitude apartments.
Horsley believed that only the residents on the ground floor apartment would potentially be negatively impacted by a museum.
Tauranga Moana Museum Trust chairman Neil Te Kani addressed the council to emphasise the case for a modern museum to celebrate Tauranga and provide "safe harbour" - the translation of Tauranga - for the city's taonga.
It would be a place of education and celebration, as well as a destination for tourists and locals alike.
The trust was neutral on site but eager to see the project progress.
He ended with a statement of what he believed the goals of the museum could be:
"Though the residents come cognisance. Through cognisance comes come understanding. Through understanding comes knowledge, through knowledge comes life and wellbeing."