A budget of more than $1.2M, set aside in anticipation of a new Wanaka community facility, was approved by councillors at Thursday’s (April 29) full council meeting in Wanaka.

A community-led proposal to buy or lease the former Mitre 10 building in Anderson Heights to repurpose it as a community youth centre, which was originally pitched to the Wanaka Community Board (WCB) at its meeting in February, is being explored by council staff.

The budget was cobbled together by council staff from surplus funding identified in other budgets allocated for various building and community service projects, and was deferred to the next financial year (FY 2021/2022) by councillors.   

The report presented to the councillors at the meeting advised the $1,217,441 funding deferred to the next financial year was “for fit out costs for the Mitre 10 ‐ Wanaka Community Facility”.

“This is pretty exciting stuff,” councillor Niki Gladding, the only councillor to speak on the matter at the meeting, said. 

“It means council is serious about the possibility of this project going ahead and creating some fit-for-purpose spaces for community groups in Wanaka.” 

She said the transfer of funds and deferral approved at the meeting is an indication of what the council would like to do.

“But we can’t get too excited just yet; no decision has been made regarding whether to proceed or not and the commercial aspects still need to be worked through.”

An internal submission to the Long-term Plan (LTP) has been made by the council’s community services team and will be available with other submissions on the website, Niki said.

Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) spokesperson Jack Barlow said the proposal was yet to be considered for approval in the council’s LTP and he wouldn’t be drawn on what stage negotiations had reached with the building’s owners, Allan and Martin Dippie. 

“At this stage it is too early in the process to provide details about plans for the former Mitre 10 site,” he said. 

Sport Otago’s Tiny Carruthers is one of several locals working on the proposal who presented the idea to the WCB. He said the purpose of the new facility was to provide permanent premises for numerous community groups in need of a place they can afford.

Tiny told the WCB he had identified 39 sports and community groups and clubs which had outgrown their current premises or couldn’t afford their ever-increasing rents who were looking for a home base now or within the next five years.

“Their future looks bleak,” he told the board, adding the proposal to buy or lease the large Mitre 10 building (which is close to the town centre, within an easy commuting distance to schools and has ample parking) might be the ideal solution.

Niki said the community could get behind the proposal either by presenting an oral submission to the LTP hearings or by emailing their elected members and “let us know what they think”.

“It really does make a difference,” she said.

PHOTO: Wanaka App