An expansion of Old Cromwell Town is on the cards, if the Cromwell Community Board's proposal to buy an adjoining piece of land goes ahead.
Old Cromwell board chairman Adrian Somerville said they had been talking about purchasing the piece of land on the corner of Inniscort St and Erris St for at least five years, with the hope of expanding the town's historic precinct.
The land, an estate in two titles, is 3340sq m and lies along Old Cromwell Town's northern boundary.
The board approached the Cromwell Community Board for funding assistance and the Central Otago District Council has since entered into a provisional sale-and-purchase agreement with the executor of the estate.
The agreed purchase price was $752,500, of which 40% would be funded by the council, 50% by the Central Lakes Trust and 10% from the Otago Community Trust.
The council funds would come from the Cromwell Endowment Account, which comes from land given to residents of the Cromwell Borough by the Crown in 1881.
However, the community board first needs to decide whether spending from that account meets the purpose of that Crown grant - to generate income for the borough.
According to the council's Statement of Proposal, "the investment ... would not provide any rental return in the short term if leased to Old Cromwell."
However, the land would be owned by the council and, after paying only a 40% share ($301,000), would result in an investment worth $752,500.
The community board is asking for public submissions on the plan, which would not cost ratepayers anything and "potentially bring more people into our community", community board chairman Neil Gillespie said.
Mr Somerville said the property had an 1860s-era stone house and large garden and would probably be left as is, to be used as an office and another entrance to Old Cromwell.
