Tapawera Community Hub: Where Will It Go?
The hub is envisioned as a place to create better access to health and wellbeing services for residents while providing a place for locals to connect and find information.
The council reaffirmed its decision to progress with the new facility earlier this month despite a 'small contingent' of Golden Down residents writing in opposition to the project in January.
Dean Walls is one Tapawera resident who wants 'no new hub anywhere' and disputes locally-led surveys that show over 80 per cent support for the facility.
He said the rural township and wider district was in economic downturn and so the council should focus on 'needs, not wants' rather than spending large sums for a community hub as rates continue to rise.
'There is no fiscal responsibility for the project at all. Numbers have been picked out of the air and reported as facts.'
The community wanted the current hall retained and upgraded, he added.
The existing Tapawera Community Centre at 95 Main Road Tapawera is currently earthquake-prone, at 25 per cent of the New Building Standard.
A feasibility study for a new hub said the community centre site was the preferred location.
The existing centre is owned by the Tapawera and Districts Community Council and would have been transferred to the council to facilitate a new hub.
However, the council's due diligence for the location revealed several issues including nearby powerlines that would complicate works, the Kahurangi Waharoa (Gateway) and community gardens currently on the site, and heritage concerns.
Subsequently, council staff had recommended that the existing community centre site was taken out of consideration, but councillors disagreed and voted to keep the possibility on the table.
Deputy mayor and Lakes-Murchison Ward councillor Stuart Bryant wanted the location to remain an option at the request of local residents.
'Hopefully this finds a way forward that we should continue working on this project for the community.'
Steve Udy, chair of the Tapawera and Districts Community Council, said the association was determined to keep the existing community centre, possibly with seismic strengthening.
'There is significant support in the community for retaining the building for its historic character, and so a demolition and new build on the site wouldn't be acceptable to significant proportion of the local community.'
He thought it made 'much more sense' to build on one of three reserves sites in the Tapawera Memorial Park currently being consulted on through the Lakes-Murchison Ward's reserve management plan.
'We have a duty to the community to ensure that the funds that have been allocated to it, to the new build, are used as best as possible.'
Two of the three locations being consulted on are south of Matai Crescent and are large open sites, but would face greater flooding risk and infrastructural costs.
The third site north of Matai Crescent has previously seen some negative feedback from the community due to access and amenity concerns, though it has better utility access and less flood risk which would result in lower construction costs.
In addition to their thoughts on the three locations, submitters on the reserve management plan are also being asked if they support a new community hub.
The consultation will gauge community feedback which will eventually inform the council's decision, but not before all four locations (including the existing community centre site) are assessed and those findings are shared with the wider community.
Design work for the new facility will begin in July.
'What we're trying to do is pursue the best possible outcome for our community long-term,' said Phoebe Quinlivan, communications and hub coordinator at Tapawera Connect.
'This is our one shot to get a community hub for Tapawera.'
The hub project has secured $510,000 from the Department of Internal Affairs.
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