A Wanaka sports club is investigating retaining community use of a prime piece of land being disposed of by the Ministry of Education, after doubts were cast over its ownership.
Two parts of the former Wanaka Primary School site in Tenby St were put on the market last week by the ministry, while a third part is still under offer to Ngai Tahu, which has first right of refusal as part of the standard disposal process for Crown-owned property.
The third part contains a synthetic turf used by the Upper Clutha Hockey Club, which raised concerns in local media this week about the probability the club would lose its training pitch.
However, past president and current club coach Sue Telford said yesterday she had been contacted by Wanaka Primary School founding board of trustees chairman Dennis Pezaro, who had raised the possibility the land containing the turf could still be owned by the Queenstown Lakes District Council.
"It's just speculation at this stage," Mrs Telford said.
"But we're keen to find out any information to keep hold of the turf where it is for a few more years."
When contacted by the Otago Daily Times, Dr Pezaro said there was once a council landfill on the land between Youghal St and the Aspiring Beginnings Early Learning Centre, where the hockey turf was now.
He recalled a section of Youghal St being closed and the land being taken for the Wanaka Area School, as it was known at the time, when the school outgrew itself in the late 1970s or early 1980s.
"I don't know how formally that was done," Dr Pezaro said.
"The question is who owns it now and whether it should be given back to the council for community purposes."
QLDC community services general manager Paul Wilson said the land ownership query seemed "pretty bizarre".
"None of our information shows it's owned by the council," he said.
However, Mrs Telford still plans to investigate the issue further with the council and other people in the community who know about the history of the old school site.
When asked last evening if there were any ownership issues surrounding the land, the ministry was unable to provide a response in time for today's ODT.
The old school site was assigned for disposal by the ministry last May following the opening of the new school in Scurr Heights in October 2010.
An earlier statement from the ministry said an area of about 1.1ha containing the main school site, including all the buildings except for one relocatable building, was now on the market, along with a second area of about 1012sq m containing the relocatable building. Tenders for both of those sections would close on May 10.
The third area, including the synthetic turf, was still being considered by Ngai Tahu, the ministry spokesperson said.
Part of the school site was earlier surveyed off for retention and expansion of the early learning centre, which will remain in Crown ownership.
A proposal by Wanaka artists Christy Rolfe and Heather Kerr to establish an arts hub or temporary community centre at the former school site has been abandoned because of uncertainty over how long the buildings would be available.
"The term was too short and the tenure would have been on a month-to-month basis and really, you can understand groups not wanting to commit to something like that," Mrs Kerr said.
