However, one city councillor said there had been ‘‘no broken promises’’ with respect to the planned library and community complex.
And the daughter of a longtime campaigner for the facility says her mother would be pleased with the project.
Community leaders told the Otago Daily Times they felt betrayed after councillors made a decision behind closed doors to lease out the top floor of the under-construction 2000sqm two-storey building in King Edward St.
The council later confirmed that in a public excluded meeting, due to rising costs, councillors decided the upper floor would be rented out as ‘‘modern office space ... to commercial tenants’’.
Now, former Dunedin mayor Aaron Hawkins says it has been a long road for the city to rebuild trust in the suburb since the 2015 flood and ‘‘decisions like this certainly don’t help that cause’’.
‘‘Decades in the making, the new library was consulted on and funded as community infrastructure.
‘‘It would always make sense for other groups to share the space, such as the South Dunedin Community Network, but asking them to pay commercial rents for the privilege is a huge barrier.
‘‘The city council is campaigning against a government who promised us a new hospital, but have since scaled that back.
‘‘That is exactly what they’re doing with the new South Dunedin Library and community complex.
‘‘Imagine telling people that they needed to scale back their desire for decent public healthcare to meet the commercial realities.’’
Mr Hawkins said he did not know how much revenue the council expected to make through the commercial leases, but he said he would be surprised if it made a significant dent in the operating costs.
‘‘This compared to the missed opportunity of putting the community at the centre of the community complex.
‘‘Perhaps most disappointing of all is that while this was very much a political decision, it was left for council staff to front it instead.’’
After the ODT revealed the decision had been made, Cr David Benson-Pope slammed his colleagues who supported the 6-4 vote to commercially lease the top floor of the South Dunedin Library and community complex as ‘‘short-sighted’’.
This week he said his view had not changed.
‘‘I think the current decision betrays our commitment to the community, representatives of which have called me to that effect.
‘‘I don’t know what sort of tenancies are envisaged for upstairs,’’ Cr Benson-Pope said.
Cr Bill Acklin, on the other hand, said nobody had been promised space in the building ‘‘rent-free’’.
‘‘The building that is being built for the South Dunedin Library is twice the size of that which was planned.
‘‘There are no broken promises here whatsoever.’’
He said the library design was everything former campaigners would have expected ‘‘and definitely fought hard for’’.
‘‘Our decision to go with the current option for the library was on the basis that half of the space would be leased out to other tenants.
‘‘It was never to be used for community organisations to have rent-free.
‘‘I find it disappointing that some people think that the
council should supply brand
new spaces to community
groups that already receive substantial funding from the ratepayers of Dunedin.’’
The daughter of the late, longtime South Dunedin Library campaigner Anne Turvey said her mother would not have opposed leasing out the space.
‘‘Fear not councillors,’’ Ruth Graham said.
‘‘I do not believe my mother would describe the decision to lease the upper level of the building as contrary to the spirit of the original promise.’’
Following the amalgamation of the borough of St Kilda and Dunedin City in 1989 there was an understanding a public library would be established in South Dunedin, she said.
‘‘As the last deputy mayor of St Kilda and a city councillor my mother felt a responsibility to ensure the promise was kept. After many annual plan representations and a few false starts the library is now almost a reality.’’
Mrs Graham said the services proposed to occupy the ground floor, including the library, were impressive.
‘‘My mother loved reading, she also enjoyed socialising and a good cup of coffee. Just imagine a cafe as a first-floor tenant and the additional appeal that would bring to the experience.’’
Cr Sophie Barker said she was pleased to hear the positive comments from Mrs Turvey’s daughter.
‘‘My understanding all along was that the key delivery was a library for South Dunedin — and that’s the spirit of the promise that was made. It’s been a long-standing aspiration, and we are the council that’s delivering it.’’
Originally the plans councillors saw had retail downstairs, with the library upstairs, which seemed to make sense for the library’s vitality and viability.
‘‘It’s very expensive to build and operate new buildings, so defraying the operational costs seemed a sensible way to be able to provide a new facility.’’
There would still be plenty of space for community meetings and the council had to be sure it was not competing with other worthy meeting spaces run by charities and community groups, so it was a fine balance.
‘‘As councillors I’m sure we’ve learned some valuable lessons during this project about managing community expectations via better planning and more councillor involvement in the process,’’ she said.
