Community board decides to initiate development of town masterplan

Neil Gillespie.
Neil Gillespie.
The Cromwell Community Board unanimously agreed to the development of a masterplan for Cromwell at its meeting yesterday.

The development will not be paid for by ratepayers, as it will be funded by income from property sales from the board's general reserves fund.

Board chairman Neil Gillespie said the development was important.

''For us, the board, it's a great step forward for the next 30, 40, 50, years and the timing is bang on.''

Rationale Ltd managing director Edward Guy presented and explained the masterplan establishment report his company wrote to the Cromwell Community board yesterday.

There were four core projects - spatial framework, which would be the most expensive, and three developments using business case approaches - memorial hall, town centre integration and civic facilities.

He said the board would lead the political governance of the project.

He recommended a project manager should be appointed to help develop the masterplan.

Plans for the town had not yet been developed and only an establishment report which detailed the issues and timeline were discussed.

The development of the masterplan, which did not include any physical work, will cost $758,600. The first $250,000 will be spent in the 2017-18 financial year and the remaining $508,600 will be spent in the 2018-19 financial year.

The board stressed the importance of community engagement throughout the development process.

Board member Anna Harrison said it was a great opportunity for the board to connect with the community.

''We are going to be engaging and talking and we are going to be getting feedback from people about what it is they want for their town, it's not just us in a stuffy room.''

The masterplan development will take a year to develop and will be in the Central Otago District Council's 2019 annual plan.

Following the meeting, the council will develop a community engagement strategy.

The board will hold its first workshop for the project in May to identify the vision and key outcomes. Mr Gillespie said it was unlikely to be public.

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