The council’s month-long submission period closed on Friday, and 350 submissions were received.
It was a more than 120% increase in interest on the council’s 2018-28 long-term plan, which received 158 submissions.
The proposed $24 million indoor sport and event centre was the most popular topic in the consultation document, attracting 207 submissions, of which 81% were in favour.
On May 14, Friends of the Waitaki Event Centre announced the project had received an anonymous pledge of $5 million, on the condition the community matched it by raising another $5 million.
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher believed that news had helped drive engagement in the long-term plan, which asked the community how much the council should contribute to the project.
With some good community fundraising efforts, Mr Kircher hoped the council’s contribution could be less than the amounts set out in the consultation document.
Friends of the Waitaki Event Centre spokeswoman Deidre Senior was thrilled by the level of interest in and support for a new indoor sport and event centre.
"To me, that just really emphasises that the community sees the need for it and are committed to it and are passionate about making it happen," Mrs Senior said
She would be speaking on the Friends of the Waitaki Event Centre’s submission at this week’s hearings, which are set down for today and tomorrow.
Friends of the Waitaki Event Centre was also in the process of registering as a charitable trust to enable the group to start a fundraising campaign.
"There has been progress on that in the past week," Mrs Senior said.
"Our focus is on raising that funding to be able to go further, hopefully with that council commitment, and then other contestable funding beyond the community’s $10 million."
Mr Kircher said the council invested a lot of time and resources into long-term plan engagement this year, and there were some "controversial" issues in the consultation document, such as an overall 8.9% increase in rates, that would have encouraged people to have their say this year.
"I’m looking forward to the reading of submissions and [this] week hearing from the people who want to speak to their submissions."
The final 2021-31 long-term plan is scheduled to be adopted on June 29.
