Earlier start on new pools for Wanaka

Adam Feeley.
Adam Feeley.
Construction of Wanaka's new swimming pools will begin in January, the Queenstown Lakes District Council decided yesterday.

The pools will be built at the Three Parks subdivision, alongside the new sports facility.

Wanaka councillors Lyal Cocks and Calum MacLeod lobbied strongly for the construction to be brought forward.

They said the pools had been talked about for a decade and the majority of Wanaka residents were prepared for a rates increase to fund the development.

Cr MacLeod urged his fellow elected members to ''crack on'' with it.

Mayor Vanessa van Uden was the only council member to vote against the recommendation, saying she was not comfortable the wider Wanaka community was happy to pay for the new pools.

The preliminary design, presented to councillors yesterday, included new features, based on public consultation and peer reviews by Auckland aquatics specialists, Watershed.

They included a spa pool with space for 15 people, a larger 20m-long and 10m-wide learners' pool, which could double as a leisure pool, and more space between the pools, along with the eight-lane lap pool.

Cr Cocks said the spa pool would attract more users and increase revenue, while Cr MacLeod said building a new aquatic centre without a spa pool was like buying a car without a stereo.

''It's almost an essential item''.

Council staff said, in many cases, portable spa pools had been added to aquatic complexes in other parts of the country.

''Our advice is to build it once and build it right,'' chief executive Adam Feeley said.

The new features and allowing for inflation had taken the total cost of the complex to $12.28million, up from $11.68 million.

The council was relying on $1 million of asset sales and was considering selling its Scurr Heights residential land in Wanaka, and $1.8 million in grants from external funding organisations and community fundraising.

Wanaka ward rates would increase by about $184 a year, although this could rise to cover the $666,000 increase in annual operating deficit compared to the existing Plantation Rd pool.

The council planned to negotiate with Cook Brothers Construction, which was building the Wanaka Sports Facility, to also construct the pools.

Council staff said having one construction contractor for both projects would result in savings but, on Mr Feeley's suggestion, the recommendation was made subject to advice on procurement probity.

Bringing the development forward would also reduce the risk of cost escalation and remove the need for $200,000 to be spent on the Plantation Rd pool to increase its earthquake resilience, staff said.

- Jessica Maddock 

Add a Comment

 

Advertisement