‘One office’ recommended for council

For almost 30 years, consecutive Queenstown Lakes district councils have been looking for a "one-office" solution to house  staff in the Queenstown CBD.

The council is now seeking to achieve that as part of the wider Queenstown Town Centre Masterplan, and a report to tomorrow’s full council meeting recommends $41.5million of funding be included in the draft long-term plan for consultation.

If approved, "Project Connect" would affect rates.

"It would be simplistic to sensationalise this figure, given current financial challenges facing the district,"  general manager, corporate services, Meaghan Miller  said.

"The reality is that council, in its function, its purpose and its role in the community, is not discretionary. Growth in any community is reflected in increased levels of service by councils.

"More cleans, more consents, more infrastructure, more builds, more parks, more roads, more traffic, more freedom campers, more dogs, more burials, more citizenship ceremonies ...  All this equates to more staff, and staff and the function of council must be accommodated."

The council intended to sell its main office on Gorge Rd to "partly offset" the cost of the new building. That could raise between $9million and $10million.

The preferred location was a section of the council-owned Stanley St site, now occupied by open car parks.

A  new parking building was proposed in the town centre plan.

Building on council-owned land would remove up to $10million from the cost outlay.

The council could also secure "very favourable" loan margins through the Local Government Funding Agency, at present a weighted average 4.28% per annum, and more than $600,000 a year would be saved once the council no longer needed to lease two of its four Queenstown CBD premises. That money could be offset against debt servicing.

Work first began on housing council staff in one office on Stanley St in 1989, and at present, council staff are split across four sites — Gorge Rd, where it had been based since 1999, Shotover St, Church St and the former Destination Queenstown offices in Stanley St.

On any given day, an average of 30 people are directed from one council office to another, to access appropriate staff.

In 2015, the council determined its Gorge Rd building was "not fit for purpose" — while it was not "earthquake prone", at 35% of building code, it was at the minimum earthquake safety level and could not continue to house public records, or act as a centre for emergency management.

The Emergency Operations Centre was subsequently moved to the Queenstown Events Centre.

Ms Miller said the Gorge Rd site, which was likely to be affected by a new proposed arterial road, also presented a "poor image" for the district, particularly as that was where meetings with dignitaries and international delegates were held.

The council chamber was "dated, stuffy and cramped" and the arrangements for staff were "not in keeping with the image of the district as an iconic destination of choice", nor did it evoke a "sense of pride" for the community or staff, she said.

An interim library space of up to 650sqm was also proposed within the Project Connect build.

Ms Miller’s report said the council was "very aware" a similar challenge existed for the Wanaka community and a separate project was being considered to address that.

tracey.roxburgh@odt.co.nz