After discussing 550 submission points over the last week, community boards in Central Otago have finished debating and discussing the issues affecting the district for the 2018-28 10-year plan.
The Central Otago District Council will discuss the community board recommendations and submissions on Wednesday and Thursday next week to finalise it. On Tuesday, the Cromwell Community Board discussed 320 points, mostly on developments at the town centre and Cromwell Memorial Hall.
This was more than any other community board in the district, and board chairman Neil Gillespie, a board member since 1998, said he was impressed with the level of engagement.
There were 145 submissions on Cromwell Town Centre development — 57 supported the council’s proposal to spend $130,000 in 2018-19, $1.8 million in 2019-21 and $509,000 in 2022-23 on improvements.
Eighteen suggested the mall changes should be looked at alongside the Cromwell "Eye to the Future" Masterplan now in development.
There were 114 submissions on the Cromwell Memorial Hall, a controversial topic in the community.
Forty-nine suggested a new hall was needed, either by demolition or moving to a different site and only nine suggested the council upgrade or refurbish the existing hall.
Eight submitters spoke to their submission at the meeting. Some were concerned about the town’s growth. The board said many of the issues raised were relevant to the masterplan, such as the town centre, memorial hall and other civic facilities.
Three submissions were made to the Maniototo Community Board for the Central Otago District Council on Wednesday and two spoke at the meeting.
One person was concerned about the availability of residential sections in Ranfurly and Maniototo Curling International wanted funding support from the council.
Ten people presented their submissions to the Vincent Community Board out of the 225 submission points the board discussed.
Several long-term funding plans were tabled for the council to consider next week: decreasing the cost of sports field usage for junior clubs as well as more funding for netball, the Alexandra BMX Club, Galloway Hall, Ophir pool, clearing up St Bathans cemetery and upgrading the land by Vallance Cottage, in Samson St.
