$5.6m plans for Whangarei sporting centre

A $5.66 million proposal developed by Whangarei's athletics and gymnastics groups may see the city's sports heartland, Kensington Park, get a grandstand again - right in the middle of Park Ave.
Ten houses will disappear in a development that includes a grandstand, gymnasium and large carpark, and Park Ave will take a loop behind the new complex.
The Whangarei District Council has gradually bought up all 10 houses (formerly owned by the Housing Corporation) over several years as part of an overall strategy to improve and protect the park as a sporting facility at the heart of surburban Whangarei.
The proposed development will enable the codes to bid for regional and national events that have previously been impossible to mount in Whangarei because of inadequate facilities.
The former, historic park grandstand is still there, but relocated (and saved) some years ago, looking away from the main body of the park to overlook the hockey turfs.
Whangarei Academy of Gymnastics head coach Vicki Macdonald, a trustee of NAGST, says the organisation's membership of 500 would increase dramatically if the planned venue was developed.
The trust said in its resource consent application that "a gymnasium facility is desperately needed to cope with demand" and that the academy's current base was "woefully inadequate".
Ms Macdonald said the group was housed in "a shed at the back of a warehouse in an industrial area, freezing cold in winter and stinking hot in summer. It's not visible and it is hard for kids to get to - they rely on their parents to get them there."
Limited facilities in schools meant that gymnastics was being taught less and less but the planned gymnasium in Park Ave would offer a safe and well-equipped venue for schools to use.
Ian Babe, also a NAGST trustee and president of Athletics Whangarei, who has been on committees trying to get the new athletics track, grandstand and supporting facilities for 40 years, predicts the proposed facility would make Kensington Park the "honey-pot of sport". It would benefit the entire community, be an attractive place for overseas athletes to come to train, and incorporate clubrooms for Athletics Whangarei to replace those demolished to make way for the new all-weather track.
Submissions close on January 12 and the hearing is set down for January 28.
The area involved is bounded by the new all-weather track in Kensington Park; residential housing accessed from Park Ave, Killen St and Corns St; and the main trunk railway line on its eastern boundary.
The development would bring 247 car parks, 227 more than are currently available at this point in a street often car-choked at weekends. The only casualty besides the 10 houses is Whangarei's most invisible public space, Corns Park. The area is bounded on one side by the main trunk railway line and otherwise surrounded by houses. Council-owned but not an official reserve, the park will be smaller but replanted and still accessible from Corns St.
The Northland Athletics and Gymnastics Stadium Trust, formed in 2000, specifically to further years of work by Athletics Northland to develop an all-weather athletics track and supporting facilities, recently submitted a resource consent application for a grandstand/gymnasium project to the Whangarei District Council.
The all-weather track was completed earlier this year beside Park Ave but stands starkly unsupported by any facilities.
The WDC has been working with the groups concerned for years on the proposals but took a softly, softly approach while it reviewed the Kensington Park management plan, aiming to ensure that no sports fields were lost by future developments.
The re-routing of Park Avenue would mean only a small portion of the proposed grandstand extended into Kensington Park.
The WDC roading division would take responsibility for legally stopping that portion of road, and the re-routing. The realigned road will be designed as a "slow-street" which continues existing slow-street "traffic calming" mechanisms.
The WDC has made $1 million available from July to go towards the cost of the gymnasium, and $3.75 million for the athletics development including the grandstand. The trust recently received a $1.08 million ASB grant for the project - the entire amount applied for - and is only $746,000 short of total cost.
Other codes such as rugby, which is expected to play on the area at the centre of the track, would be able to share the facilities to increase financial viability.