Stop the Stadium is gearing up to provide help
for people to make submissions against a district plan change
that would allow the Awatea St Stadium to be built, and is
today beginning a membership drive.
Bev Butler, president of the group opposed to ratepayer
funding of the project, said the "people power" drive would
involve members on the street offering memberships worth $10
for workers, or $2 for students and pensioners.
Former Historic Places Trust Otago chairwoman Elizabeth Kerr,
a member of Stop the Stadium, is co-ordinating a response to
the district plan change necessary to rezone land at the
stadium site. The Carisbrook Stadium Trust has requested a
district plan change that would turn what was now
industrial-zoned land into campus and stadium-zoned land,
which the council adopted, meaning it would accept the
responsibility and costs of processing it.
The council has called for submissions on the plan, with the
submission period closing on July 25.
Those will be subject to further submissions, hearings will
be held and a decision made, followed by a period in which
people can appeal to the Environment Court.
Ms Butler has said the group would appeal if necessary, a
tactic that would drag the process out, and make it difficult
for the trust to complete the stadium before the 2011 Rugby
World Cup.
Ms Kerr said her first objective was to put together a
summary of information to help people write submissions
against the plan change, "for those who haven't been through
the plan change process".
The group's submission would look at the potential effects of
the stadium in terms of environmental, social, cultural and
economic wellbeing of the city.
Asked if the group's tactics were slowing the process when a
democratic decision on the project had been made, she said
submissions were part of the democratic process, and a chance
for the public to participate.
Ms Butler said last week she planned to consult pro-stadium
group Our Stadium to see if it would help pay for an
Otago-wide survey of public opinion on the stadium.
Our Stadium club secretary Tim Calder said yesterday he had
met Ms Butler this week to discuss the matter.
He said the discussion was amicable, and he admired the work
she had done, but not her views on the project.
He would consider whether to help pay for the poll when he
saw it, but was concerned it was being put together by
stadium opponents, including Dr Robert Hamlin.
The group did not plan to put in a submission on the annual
plan, as it did not want to slow the process any further.
Members took a dim view of Stop the Stadium's plan to appeal
to the Environment Court, which he said was an abuse of the
system.
Dunedin's bid for pool games at the World Cup will be
considered this October, with any appeals to the Environment
Court likely to come after this period.
Carisbrook Trust chairman Malcolm Farry told the Otago Daily
Times in September 2006 that the stadium's readiness for the
2011 Rugby World Cup was not necessarily a crucial factor.
Mr Farry could not be contacted for comment yesterday.
2011 Rugby World Cup chief executive Martin Sneddon said he
was keeping a "watching brief" on the stadium.
Mr Sneddon said he was in the business of running a rugby
tournament, and it was up to the people of Dunedin to get the
stadium ready.
If the stadium was ready on time, "that is great; if they
can't, they will have to deal with that", he said.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
A name, residential address, and (preferably residential) telephone number is required from readers who comment on ODT Online. These details will not be visible to site visitors.