Vital Vote on Wednesday

Councillors have received a recommendation from senior WDC staff and will vote this Wednesday on how to proceed.

This is the Summary of the Recommendation from senior WDC staff to voting Councillors, ahead of Wednesday’s vote:

“In summary Council needs to determine what the goal is for redevelopment of the building. If it is seen as an attraction for economic development then the HWMAC project would be the best investment for Council and the Community.

If on the other hand the Council wishes to use the building to create an opportunity to “tell our story” including a range of Art options then Harbourside or AMP or a mix of these could be considered. Based on the assessment of these two options Council and the Community’s financial support would be significant and ongoing which is to be expected for this type of project.

Finally if none of the proposals are considered acceptable either in content, risk or cost then demolition of the building still remains an option.”

Important facts:

• The HWMAC is the only proposal that clearly stacks up financially and offers ratepayers the best potential return.
• $100,000* of ratepayers $ will need to be spent to further assess the non-HWMAC proposals before a decision on whether it one may actually be viable could be voted on (*figure from WDC).
• No further scoping/assessment work at all is required to proceed with HWMAC – all that work has been done.
• Any other proposal requires significantly more ratepayer funding, in perpetuity.
• Demolishing the building would obviously mean the complete loss of the Hundertwasser gift – which is ONLY available for this building.
• WDC staff met with all the finalists proposal groups and sought independent commercial advice before preparation of these recommendations.