Whangārei Airport, at Onerahi, could become a major retail and housing development if the airport moves, a resident says.
Whangārei Airport, at Onerahi, could become a major retail and housing development if the airport moves, a resident says.
Onerahi's Whangārei Airport site could become a major multimillion-dollar mixed residential and retail development according to a Whangārei resident who recently returned from Dubai.
Garrith Cordiner's comments came at Whangārei District Council's (WDC) public consultation meeting at Forum North on Thursday night about the future of the airport.
He said the airport site could become a new Onerahi urban centre. It offered a major Northland development opportunity.
"It's prime real estate. There's so much potential. It offers major Northland development opportunity," Cordiner said.
He shifted back to his Whangārei home town in August after living in Dubai for 14 years.
He said the airport "absolutely" needed to shift from Onerahi as it was too small to serve a growing city and district of 100,000 people into the future. Ruatangata was his preference, although he had reservations about the river running through it.
Cordiner said Onerahi and Whangārei Heads were growing and would continue to do so. He said the value of the Onerahi airport site was its land. That was almost more important than what happened to the airport.
"It would be great for apartments. It's got those great views of Whangārei Harbour. There would be plenty of investor interest," Cordiner said.
Waikaraka's Garrith Cordiner (left) talks airports with Fraser Campbell, WDC airport location study project manager. Photo / Michael Cunningham
The existing Onerahi shopping centre, including the supermarket, could be shifted to the airport into a new modern facility. The current supermarket was too small, with very limited parking. The rest of the retail area was a strip of shops that needed updating, with limited space, alongside a busy road.
Cordiner said the multi-use Onerahi airport site could also include a retirement development. There would also be a rest home with graduated care support facilities including a hospital. A Northland Emergency Services Trust helipad could be established at the hospital.
There was opportunity for a new school too.
The government owns the airport's land and has a 50-50 share in the airport itself with WDC.
WDC chief executive Simon Weston said it would be the government, rather than the council, that would make any decision about the site's future use.
Weston said the council would be deciding on the future location of Whangārei's airport on June 30.
WDC's public consultation on four future location options ends on May 25, with a final public meeting to be held online next week. A public hearing will be held on June 9. Deliberations are scheduled for June 21.
The options are a new $150 million airport at Ruatangata, Ruatangata West or One Tree Point West and staying at Onerahi. WDC has said Onerahi is limited in its future capacity due to short runway length meaning Civil Aviation Authority compliance issues.
Whangārei Mayor Sheryl Mai has said the public consultation does not mean shifting from Onerahi was a foregone conclusion and any potential shift would be at least 20 years away.
Kamo West resident Peter Smith, a former Rotary district governor for north of Auckland, said at Thursday's meeting that Whangārei needed a new airport – at Ruatangata. He said the government should be paying for it.
A new $150 million airport would be Whangārei's biggest infrastructure project.
WDC chief executive Simon Weston, second right, discusses airport locations at the Forum North public 'have your say' meeting. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Weston said there would need to be some form of government funding towards a new airport.
"It would be too big a project for ratepayers," Weston said.
The council would need to work with the government on this, but the airport location process had not progressed far enough to be able to say what funding might look like.
WDC has received 260 consultation submissions to date. Just over 300 people have turned out to three face-to-face public meetings since consultation started on April 20.
■ Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
