Doc’s Tititea/Mount Aspiring National Park Visitor Centre, located on an approximately 3.4-hectare site at 1 Ballantyne Rd, is undergoing a review as part of a nationwide visitor centre shakeup.
Wānaka arts patron Chris Hadfield said the site’s proximity to the Wānaka-Luggate Highway led him to suggest it as a potential spot for a proposed $70 million arts and cultural centre as far back as two years ago.
"I think that site gives the centre a presence, if you like.
"It makes it easy for people to know where it is, how far away it might be if they were walking somewhere and also, I hate to say it, lots of room for carparks."
Mr Hadfield is the deputy chairman of the Wānaka Upper Clutha Community Board and also a member of the Wānaka Arts and Cultural Centre Trust (WACT), which has been working on feasibility plans and designs for a new arts and cultural centre since 2021, with the goal of delivering a council-owned, debt-free facility by 2030.
While 1 Ballantyne Rd had not made WACT’s shortlist of possible sites for the centre earlier this year, one of those locations (Golf Course Corner) lies just across the road from Doc’s visitor centre.
Mr Hadfield acknowledged a large barrier to any potential repurposing of the Doc site was its designation as national park land, which occurred in 1966.
"There’s legislation that needs to be changed up in Wellington to make it possible in terms of re-designating the land and then going to Ngāi Tahu and saying, ‘what do you guys want to do?’."
The National Parks Act 1980 states that "no area of land or foreshore included in any park shall be excluded from that park, except by an Act of Parliament".
Even if Doc made the decision to keep the visitor centre in its current location, there was always the possibility of a merger with the arts and cultural centre, Mr Hadfield said.
"To be honest if all the ducks got in a row, there’s absolutely no reason why part of the new building couldn’t include some sort of Doc visitor centre anyway.
"At this point the art centre’s not even in the long term plan, so we’ve got plenty of time."
WACT has been urging the public to make submissions on the Queenstown Lakes District Council’s draft long-term plan before the July 28 deadline, as the plan does not currently include any funding for the proposed centre.
Doc South Island southern operations director Aaron Fleming told the Otago Daily Times the visitor centre’s location was "something that will be considered as part of the review", but would not be drawn on the possibility that the site could be used for an arts and cultural centre.
"We will not be considering alternative proposals until decisions are made on this review process."
A timeframe for Doc’s review has not been provided.
