A five star boutique hotel, up market backpackers, permanent ice rink, stylish apartments for the elderly or demolition for gardens - people have been offering plenty of ideas to Whangarei Mayor Sheryl Mai on what to do with the Old Harbour Board building at the Town Basin if the Hundertwasser project is canned.
The Whangarei District Council will meet today to discuss where to from now after a comprehensive telephone survey found 28 per cent of respondents supported the controversial Hundertwasser Arts Centre (HAC) project, with 53 per cent opposed and 19 per cent either not sure or not leaning either way.
The council employed Versus Research - at a cost of $17,065 - to do a telephone survey of 1000 Whangarei residents to gauge support for HAC.
It proposes spending up to $13 million on building HAC at the old Harbour Board Building with up to $8 million from ratepayers. An economic feasibility of the proposal by consultants Deloitte claims it will attract between 143,000 and 160,000 paying visits annually. The survey results have given councillors plenty to consider at today's meeting, but earlier this week Ms Mai asked on her Facebook page: "Can anyone come up with a suggestion for the use of the Northland Regional Council building at the Town Basin that would not have an ongoing cost for our ratepayers?
"That seems to be a major concern for some of the nay-sayers to HAC, not wanting to bear any potential shortfall in operating costs, and there is much debate whether or not it would pay dividends to ratepayers. I can confirm that if the HAC does not proceed, all external funds raised would have to be returned ... a potential loss of at least $4.5M dollars, and there would be no call on the $6M ratepayer funding for the project. Doing nothing is not an option. Your feedback would be most welcome."
