D-Day for Hundertwasser

Whangarei District councillors will decide tomorrow whether the Hundertwasser Arts Centre will go ahead or be scrapped. Photo/File

One of Whangarei's most contentious issues in years will be resolved one way or the other tomorrow, which is D-Day for the controversial Hundertwasser Arts Centre. A final yes or no on the divisive proposal is set to be made by Whangarei District councillors.

Ever since the council resurrected a plan to build a Hundertwasser Arts Centre at the old Harbour Board and Northland Regional Council building at the Town Basin in 2008, the proposal has caused controversy - even as the council included it in its long term plan.

But tomorrow councillors will vote whether to continue with HAC or drop the plan once and for all.

If the vote is to go ahead, the HAC will not need to undergo a special consultative process as the project is already in the long term plan.

However under the Local Government Act, if they vote to can the plan, that would have to go through the special consultative process and call for submissions, because it would need to be deleted from that same plan.

The council proposes spending up to $13 million on building HAC, with up to $8 million from ratepayers. An economic feasibility study of the proposal by consultants Deloitte claims it will attract 143,000 to 160,000 paying visits annually. The $5 million non-rates funding has already been pledged.

A comprehensive telephone survey carried out by the council found 53 per cent of respondents opposed HAC, 28 per cent supported it and 19 per cent were either not sure or not leaning either way.

The council employed Versus Research - at a cost of $17,065 - to do the telephone survey of 1000 Whangarei residents to gauge support for HAC.

But Whangarei's business and tourism communities have come out behind the scheme, saying they felt it would be good for the district.

On Saturday regional development and tourism body Northland Inc, which is largely ratepayer funded, said it would meet any running costs of the centre.

Tomorrow the councillors will have plenty of information before them to make their decision, including the financial implications for HAC, the business plan, how Deloitte came up with its figures and comparisons with other regional museums.

Councillors have also been informed that the Hundertwasser Foundation has made it clear that if the HAC is built it will be the last authentic Hundertwasser building to be constructed and therefore it would need to be based at the site of the NRC building at the Town Basin.

Whangarei ratepayers could end up footing an annual bill of $500,000 if HAC sails into troubled waters. In a worst case scenario examined by Deloitte, the centre would generate 10 per cent lower than projected income while at the same time incurring 10 per cent greater than projected expenses.

The council bought the old harbour board/NRC building on December 5, 2003 for $2.2 million plus GST - $1 million above valuation - but since then the building has remained empty except for use for one-off events such as headquarters for the Rally of Whangarei.